Sod the Consequences
by ThatOneAnimagus
Summary: Blacks go into Slytherin. That's the way things go. Sirius, however, doesn't necessarily want to be Slytherin. Unfortunately, it's not as though he has a choice. At least, not until he makes a reckless decision. On hiatus.
1. Reckless Decisions

"SIRIUS! GET DOWNSTAIRS!"

Sirius hurried down the stairs. Not necessarily because he was keen to listen to his mother, but because he wanted to go downstairs.

Down to the door, then outside, onto the Knight Bus, then to King's Cross Station, then to Platform 9¾, and finally, onto the Hogwarts Express to go to Hogwarts. He'd been waiting for eleven years, and he wasn't going to be able to wait much longer.

"SIRIUS!"

"Yes, Mum! I'm here!" He was unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

Walburga Black looked down on him, eyes narrowly sweeping every inch of him, from his impeccable robes to his slightly out-of-place raven black hair. "Don't look like a puppy waiting for a treat. You're more dignified than that."

Sirius stopped bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"And stand up straight."

He straightened his back.

"Good enough," she decided at last. "Do you have your trunk?"

"It's at the door already."

"Good. The Knight Bus should be here in a few minutes. Do something about your hair while you're waiting."

Sirius sighed. "Mum, it's fine, it's not like I'll be expelled for-"

"GO!" she roared.

"Sorry, Mum."

He hurried from the room, barely making it into the hall when he ran into a small, fast moving figure.

"Sorry, Sirius," the figure said. "I was just-"

"It's fine, Reg." Normally he would have snapped, but today was different. He was too excited to be upset.

Regulus stood up and said happily, "Guess what? Mum said I could come with to the platform. I bet it'll be brilliant!"

"Yeah, I can't wait."

"Why can't I go with you to Hogwarts? I have to wait a whole year!" Regulus complained.

"You're not old enough," Sirius said simply. "You have to be eleven."

"I'm almost ten!" Regulus said.

"IS YOUR HAIR FIXED, SIRIUS?"

Both Sirius and Regulus winced at the volume of Walburga's shout.

"I'll go do that," Sirius said, and he ran off to find a comb.

When he rushed back to the main hall after fixing his hair, (which had become slightly untidied from the running,) Walburga was waiting.

"Get your trunk," she said briskly. "It's here."

Sirius grabbed his trunk from next to the door, and hurried outside.

The violet, triple decker Knight Bus was parked on the side of the road. It looked quite odd amongst the darkly painted buildings that lined the street.

"'Op on in!" the conductor called. "'Aven't got all day…."

Sirius hurried on, followed closely by Regulus, who was tailed by Walburga.

"'Ogwarts, I'm guessing," the conductor said as they got on.

"Yeah," Sirius nodded enthusiastically. "We need to get to King's Cross."

The conductor pointed towards the back of the bus. "Those seats back there are open, you can take 'em- and I can take your trunk, if you'd like?"

Sirius made to pass it over. "Yeah, tha-"

"He's fine," Walburga snapped. "Head along, Sirius, Regulus."

Sirius, trunk in hand, made his way to the back, leaving the conductor looking surprised behind him.

The trip was short. The bus sped along, and before he knew it, they had stopped in front of King's Cross Station.

The street was full of people. Most muggles, probably. That had to be why they looked at the three Blacks and their robes in confusion. They weren't used to seeing such clothes in places other than costume parties.

Walburga took the lead with Sirius and Regulus following closely and eagerly behind her.

It was more crowded inside the station than on the street.

Walburga weaved in and out of the people, muttering under her breath.

Sirius and Regulus followed, looking around in awe at the people, the trains, the clocks, everything.

"Don't dawdle," Walburga hissed, grabbing their arms as the fell behind.

"Sorry, Mum," Regulus said.

"And you?" she prompted, glancing back at Sirius.

"Sorry," Sirius said. He wasn't, not really, but it would make her let go of his arm.

She let go, and continued towards the wall between platforms nine and ten.

"Isn't she going to run into it?" Regulus asked, looking to Sirius.

"No, watch," Sirius said.

Walburga walked into the wall and disappeared.

"Brilliant," Regulus breathed.

"Hey, Reg," Sirius said, grinning. "Race you." He broke into a run. At least, as much of a run as he could while holding his trunk.

Regulus grinned as well and ran after him.

When Sirius hit the wall, there wasn't any impact. It simply felt like walking through a draft.

Instead of the crowd of bustling muggles, a crowd of witches and wizards was milling about.

A puff of steam came from the scarlet steam engine labeled the 'Hogwarts Express' as Sirius and Regulus made their way to the train excitedly.

"Remember, you have to uphold our honor. Put a toe out of line..." Walburga threatened, then said, "Your father was going to give you this, but as he's not back from his meeting, I put it in your trunk. Open it when you get to Hogwarts. When you are in the Slytherin Common Room."

The train gave off a shrill whistle.

"Now get on there- I've asked Bella to save you a spot."

Sirius nodded, and made towards the train, only to hear a shout of "Wait!"

He turned around.

Regulus had stopped him.

"I'll write," Sirius assured him before he could ask.

"Good." Regulus gave him a quick hug.

Sirius returned it, then, trunk in hand, made for the Hogwarts Express.

* * *

He didn't go to find Bellatrix. He'd have to be off his rocker to do that.

Instead, he found a blissfully empty compartment.

Sirius had lifted his trunk to stow it in the hold above when he heard a boy's voice ask, "Got any room?"

Sirius turned.

The boy had messy black hair, round glasses, and looked to be about his age, eleven. He looked extremely casual in his muggle tee-shirt and jeans.

"Take your pick," Sirius said.

The boy grinned. "Thanks. Most of the other ones were filled with upper-years. Or Slytherins."

Sirius nodded. "Wouldn't want to sit with any of them."

"No, definitely not," the boy said, stowing his trunk. "I'm James, by the way. James Potter."

Sirius looked at him curiously. A Potter? He'd heard of them. "Filthy blood traitors, the whole lot of them," Walburga had once said.

This one- James- seemed nice enough, though. Maybe they weren't all alike.

"Sirius," Sirius said. He offered James his hand.

James shook it.

"So this is your first year too?" James asked.

"Yeah. I've heard loads about Hogwarts though," Sirius said. "My dad said History of Magic is one of the better classes, and-"

"Your dad said History of Magic was a good class?" James interrupted incredulously. "Mine said it was the most boring class he ever took, even worse than Arithmancy."

"Arithmancy sounds really bad," Sirius agreed.

The train gave off a last shrill whistle, and they began pulling out of Platform 9¾.

James hurried to the window to give a wave to an older-looking couple standing near the edge of the platform.

"My parents," he explained, turning back once they had left the platform completely. "Did yours come?"

Sirius nodded. "My mum. I don't like my family very much, though."

James stared at bewilderedly. "Why?"

Sirius shrugged. "They're strict. And they yell a lot. Mum particularly."

"Oh," James said.

They were quiet for a moment.

James broke the silence.

"How does a train eat?"

Sirius grinned. "Chew-chew."

James laughed. "Well, at least they aren't so strict that you don't have a quality sense of humor."

Before Sirius could reply, the compartment door slid open.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" the red-headed girl asked. "Everywhere else is full."

James shrugged.

The girl took that as a yes, moved over to the window, and sat down silently without saying another word.

James and Sirius shared a look.

Then they continued talking.

It was about fifteen minutes later when their debate about whether or not Wales had one the Quidditch World Cup fairly when a greasy haired boy barged into the compartment.

He didn't acknowledge the two boys, instead making straight for the girl.

"Really should have knocked," Sirius muttered.

James nodded. "Bet he'll be Slytherin. Doesn't have any manners."

"I don't want to talk to you," the girl said tightly.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore." She turned her face from the window, and it was obvious that she had been crying.

"So what?"

"So she's my sister!" she said heatedly.

James and Sirius returned to their conversation.

"Wingsworth definitely made that hit without any penalties," James said. "He didn't grab Scallthiks broom until after the hit."

"He still grabbed her broom," Sirius said. "That was a penalty."

"That shouldn't have affected his hit, though."

"Well, technically-"

"-better be in Slytherin," the boy said, quite audibly.

"Slytherin? Who wants to be in Slytherin?" James said. He looked to Sirius, grinning. "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

Sirius didn't return the grin.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin," he said.

James looked surprised. "Blimey, and I thought you seemed alright!"

Sirius did grin this time. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"

"Gryffindor, 'where the brave dwell at heart!' Like my dad."

The boy scoffed.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No," the boy said, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius asked casually.

James gave a roar of laughter.

The girl stood up, shooting glares at Sirius and James. "Come on, Severus," she said loftily. "Let's find another compartment."

"See ya, Snivellus!" James said, waving as they left.

The girl slammed the compartment door loudly behind them.

"Right git he was," James said. "First coming in without asking or knocking, then going on to insult Gryffindor…. Your whole family really has been in Slytherin though?"

Sirius nodded.

"Is that why you don't like them?"

Sirius didn't answer right away. Could he really pin that all on them being Slytherin?

Probably. All the Slytherins he had met had been gits.

"Yeah," he decided.

James opened his mouth to respond when he was interrupted by a call from outside the compartment.

"Anything off the trolley?"

Conversation forgotten, the boys hurried to the door and pulled it open to meet the trolley.

"Can I have a box of Bertie Bott's, some Cauldron Cakes, and a Pumpkin Pasty?" James asked the witch pushing the cart.

"Of course, dear. Do you want anything?" She turned to Sirius.

"Yeah. I'll have a box of Bertie Bott's too, and a few chocolate frogs."

The witch passed them their sweets, then continued down the train.

Sirius opened his box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans and pulled out a green one. "Dare you to try this one," he said to James.

"Only if you try this speckled one," James said.

The sky was growing dark when the spires of Hogwarts came into view.

The castle glowed with a warm, golden light that came from the windows.

"Woah," Sirius said excitedly.

"Brilliant," James breathed.

The train slowed to a stop minutes later.

Sirius and James hurried off the train, school robes on.

The castle was hidden behind the mountain now. The only light came from the windows of the train and the station they had pulled into.

Most of the students were moving towards the road, on which a number of rickety carriages were waiting.

"Is that where we go?" Sirius asked, nodding to the carriages.

"No, my dad said that we go across the lake," James said.

"Maybe the carriages go on the water?"

"Maybe-"

James was cut short by a loud shout. "Firs' years this way! Firs' years over 'ere!"

"Not the carriages," Sirius decided.

They began fighting their way through the crowd of the upper years towards the other end of the station.

"Why do they all have to be so tall?" James complained.

"Because you're a midget," Sirius said sincerely. "Everyone towers over you."

"You're shorter than me!" James argued.

Sirius gasped dramatically. "How could you, James? Why would you remind me of the half inch shorter than you that I am?"

"Because if I'm a midget, then you're a more midgety midget."

They reached the owner of the voice, joining the gathering crowd of first years. He was a large man with a thick, bushy beard. None of his face was visible except for his cheery beetle black eyes. He held a pink umbrella, which looked quite odd in his giant hands.

"Is this all o' yeh?" he asked. When no one said anything, he continued. "My name is Rubeus Hagrid. I'm the keeper of keys and grounds 'ere at Hogwarts. You lot will be getting up to the castle by boat. I'll take yeh to the docks and across. This way."

The first years shared glances, then made to follow Hagrid, who had begun walking.

They arrived at a dark dock, where there were half a dozen boats waiting.

"No more than four to a boat," Hagrid told them. He stepped into a boat at the end of the dock, which wobbled slightly as he boarded it.

"This one," James said, leading Sirius to a boat near Hagrid's. "We'll see the castle sooner."

They clambered into the boat.

No sooner had they sat down when a sandy haired boy, tailed by a round one, asked cautiously, "Can we sit here?"

"Of course," James said. "There's loads of room."

"Thanks," the boy said, then he climbed in carefully.

"I'm James. James Potter," James said.

"Sirius," Sirius said.

"Remus Lupin," the boy offered.

"I'm Peter Pettigrew," the other boy said, sitting down.

"Well, lads, excited for Hogwarts?" James said.

"'Lads?' Does anyone still talk like that?" Sirius snorted.

"Yeah," James said.

"No, definitely not."

"Definitely so."

"Definitely not."

"Definitely so."

"Definitely not."

"Definitely so."

"Definitely so."

"Aha! You agree!" James said triumphantly.

"What? No, I don't!" Sirius argued. "You tricked me!"

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"No!"

"You did it again," Remus said, looking vaguely amused.

"James, this is all your fault!"

"No," James said calmly.

"Yes!"

"No."

"Ye-"

"You should probably stop before you repeat him again," Remus advised.

"That's exactly what I'm going to do," Sirius said. " I don't need you making me look stupid."

"No, you don't," Remus said. "You do that well enough on your own."

James roared with laughter.

"Hey!" Sirius complained. "That's not funny- stop laughing already, James!"

James didn't stop until Hagrid called from the lead boat, "We're goin' to get goin'. Is everyone in a boat?"

There was a murmur of 'yes's from the group of first years.

Hagrid tapped the side of his boat with the pink umbrella, and the boats began to glide forward, away from the docks and across the lake.

There was barely any sound as they moved across the lake. The first years were quiet, breaths held in anticipation. At last, they would be seeing the castle up close.

The murmurs of excitement began.

"It looks even bigger from here," Peter said excitedly.

"Yeah," James said. "Just wait until we get inside- I bet it'll be even bigger in there!"

The castle loomed above them as the boats stopped by the other shore of the lake.

"Everyone out!" Hagrid said. "Professor McGonagall'll be taking yeh from 'ere." He walked over to the large door before them and knocked.

The door was opened by a severe looking witch, who's hair was knotted in a tight bun. She glanced down at them, then addressed Hagrid. "Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

The first years trailed behind McGonagall, who led them through the grand entrance hall, then into an empty side room.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," McGonagall said briskly. "The start-of-term feast will be starting shortly. However, before the feast begins, you will all be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony, as while you are here, you're house will be like your family. You will go to classes with housemates, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house Common Room. You will also be competing with your classmates to win the House Cup. Triumphs earn you points, while rule breaking and misbehaving lose points. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win.

"The four houses are Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and has produced notable witches and wizards. I am sure you will all be a credit to whichever house you are sorted into."

McGonagall looked around at the first years. "I am going to inform Headmaster Dumbledore that you are ready. While I am gone, I suggest you smarten yourselves up as much as possible." With that, she turned and left the room.

Whispers broke out among the first years.

"What are we going to have to do?"

"I dunno, but my brother said something about wrestling the Giant Squid."

"Giant Squid?" Peter said nervously.

"Yeah," James grinned, "without magic."

"We don't even know any magic yet," Sirius said.

"Oh, right. Still, without magic!"

"That's not going to happen," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "We're in here, and the squid is out there. And anyway, I read about it- we're trying on a hat."

"Oh, good," Peter said.

"Come on, Lupin! You ruined the fun!" Sirius said.

"We are ready for you," McGonagall said. She had returned. "Come on, quickly. Let's not keep them waiting."

They filed behind her, still whispering.

McGonagall led them to a large hall, filled with students, all of whom were seated at one of four long tables. Another long table was stationed in the front of the hall, at which the teachers were seated.

"Woah," someone said from behind Sirius. "Look up!"

The ceiling was a patchwork of stars and night sky. Under the enchanted ceiling, candles were floating above the heads of the students, giving the room a welcoming light.

"Brilliant," James said, looking around.

The first years clustered in the front of the hall around a stool that seated a ragged wizards hat.

The hat opened it's brim wide, like a mouth, and began to sing.

"_Though I may be old,_

_And falling apart at the seams,_

_I can help you here,_

_Decide where you ought to be._

_Should you be in Slytherin? _

_Part of the ambitious, cunning lot?_

_Perhaps Hufflepuff, _

_Where disloyalty and laziness are tolerated naught?_

_Gryffindor, _

_The place for chivalry and guts?_

_Or maybe Ravenclaw, _

_For you wise and witty?_

_I may not be pretty_

_Or young as you,_

_But I haven't lost my touch!_

_So come on up,_

_Try the Sorting Hat on, _

_And let's get the Sorting done!"_

The room filled with warm applause for the Hat and its song.

McGonagall picked up the Hat, and addressed the first years. "Come forward when your name is called. Then, please take your seat at the appropriate table. Allans, Hoover."

A blond boy made his way up to the stool and sat down as McGonagall placed the Hat on his head.

"_RAVENCLAW!" _the Hat decided.

One of the tables on the edge of the room burst into thunderous applause as Hoover hopped off the stool.

"Asten, Jen."

A girl hurried away from the crowd of first years and sat eagerly on the stool.

"_HUFFLEPUFF!"_

The Hufflepuff table clapped loudly as Jen made her way to their table.

"Black, Sirius."

Sirius sat down on the stool, head whirring.

His parents seemed to think he'd be Slytherin- of course he would be, everyone in his family had, and anyway, wasn't Slytherin supposed to be the best house? But the way James had talked about it on the train… and the fact that everyone he'd met who had come out of Slytherin had been a git. Did he really want to go there? Did he even have a choice? And if he wasn't in Slytherin, what would his parents say? Nothing good, he was sure. And he was a Black. Blacks went in Slytherin. That was how things went. It wasn't any use -was hoping the word?- that he would end up somewhere else.

McGonagall placed the too-big hat on his head.

"Another Black, eh?" the Hat said. "I think I know where to put you…"

Sirius sighed. Of course.

"No, maybe not, maybe not," the Hat said. "Ambitious and cunning, yes. Loyal and hardworking, yes. Perhaps not a thirst for learning, but there is bravery there, plenty of bravery…. What would you say, Mr. Black?"

What would he say? He glanced toward the Slytherin table. His cousins were waiting impatiently. Waiting impatiently for him to join them. To become just like them. Bellatrix, who hexed him and Regulus for fun during family gatherings, was waiting. Narcassia, who toyed with and manipulated everyone, was waiting. His parents, who looked down upon anything less than perfection, were waiting. His whole family was waiting. But he didn't want to be like them. Screw the consequences. He wasn't going to be another traditional Black. Not another manipulative, judgemental, cruel person.

He made his decision.

"Don't put me in Slytherin," Sirius whispered recklessly.

"Not Slytherin? I think you're the first Black to say that," the Hat mused. "Very well, then. Either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, I'd say."

"Gryffindor," Sirius said quietly. That was the opposite of Slytherin. He couldn't become like his family if he was opposite of them.

"Gryffindor? Hmm… I suppose that can be arranged. Are you sure? Bear in mind the consequences..."

"Sod the consequences."

"Then it'll have to be _GRYFFINDOR!_"

The Hat shouted the last word to the hall, which went silent.

McGonagall pulled the Hat off of his head.

The Slytherin table broke out into whispers. Then-

A few people from the Gryffindor table began clapping. Slowly, the rest of the table joined in, growing in volume as Sirius took a seat with them.

The cheers, however, were not loud enough to cover the shout that came from one of the Slytherins.

"Blood traitor!"

Sirius drew in a sharp breath. Bellatrix.

"Excuse me?" McGonagall said sharply, the Sorting forgotten. She strode, hat still in hand, towards a dark haired, haughty looking girl. "Ms. Black, that is hardly necessary! Mr. Black has been made a member of Gryffindor House, which is as good as any other! I would also like to remind you that your views on blood purity have no place at Hogwarts, much less at the Sorting!"

"That's enough, Minerva," one of the teachers said. He was round enough that it seemed his dress robes were almost too small, and he wore a troubled expression. "I will deal with Ms. Black-"

McGonagall cut him off, protesting. "Horace-"

"Let Horace handle her," one of the teachers said. "She is in his house, after all."

McGonagall pursed her lips, but headed back to the front of the room. "Boot, Charles."

A mousy haired boy was making his way up to the stool, but Sirius hardly noticed. Only now was he realizing what he had gotten himself into.

He chanced a glance towards Bellatrix, who was glaring daggers at him, her sister Narcissa by her side. They were going to kill him. Bellatrix, in particular. And if they didn't, his parents surely would. But Bellatrix was a seventh year. Narcissa was a sixth. They were both in different houses. They couldn't get to him, except at meal times, and there would be people everywhere then. His parents couldn't touch him. Not until the holidays, at least.

"_RAVENCLAW!_" the Hat decided, startling Sirius from his thoughts.

He would be fine. He always got out of things fine, didn't he?

"Bulstrode, Elizabeth."

"_SLYTHERIN!"_

"Cannen, Johnathan."

"_HUFFLEPUFF!_"

"Detith, Kennedy."

"_HUFFLEPUFF!"_

"Evans, Lily."

Sirius watched as the redheaded girl from the train took a seat on the stool.

"_GRYFFINDOR!_"

Lily hurried over to the table, glancing back toward someone in the crowd of first years, then sat across from him.

"Hi," Sirius said.

"Hi- oh, it's you." Lily glared at him.

"That happened hours ago! Are you really going to hold that against me?" Sirius asked, but Lily had already turned to watch 'Fortescue, Alice' be sorted into Gryffindor as well.

The Sorting continued, and Sirius was soon joined by Remus and Peter from the boat.

"Potter, James."

James barely had the hat on his head when it shouted, "_GRYFFINDOR_!"

He came to the table, grinning, and slid into a vacant spot next to Sirius.

"Congrats, mate," Sirius said.

"You too," James said. "I knew-"

A fifth year sitting next to them interrupted with a hiss of "be quiet!"

"Later," James mouthed.

Sirius nodded.

"Snape, Severus."

"_SLYTHERIN_!"

"No surprise there," James said quietly, watching the boy from the train join the Slytherin table.

"_Shh!_"

"Sorry!"

The Sorting ended with 'Zethes, Louis' being sorted into Ravenclaw.

McGonagall carried the Hat and stool out of the room.

The man in the headmaster's chair stood.

"Welcome," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling behind his half-moon glasses, "to a new year at Hogwarts. I have three start of term announcements to make before we enjoy our excellent feast. First off, a new tree has been planted on the grounds. It is a whomping willow, and will attempt to hit any who wander within the range of it's branches. Please steer clear of it; it is a dangerous plant. Second, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has added a few items to his list of banned items. If you have any questions about that, you can look at the list on his office door, or you can ask him. Third, I am pleased to welcome Professor Müller, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Now please, enjoy the feast!"

Sirius turned from look at Dumbledore to the plates that had been placed on the table. Half a minute ago they had been empty, but now they were brimming with all sorts of food.

"Can you pass the bread?" Peter asked. "And the noodles?"

"Only if you pass me the chicken," Sirius said.

Peter nodded, Sirius passed over the bread and noodles, and Peter passed him the chicken.

"Anyway," James said, loading his plate with potatoes, "Like I was trying to say earlier- I knew you wouldn't be Slytherin. You're too good for that. And then you'd be rooming with Snivellus."

"I'm trying to eat, don't make me think about sleeping in the same room as that greaseball."

"Oh, right. Let's not lose our appetites."

* * *

The feast ended an hour or so later, once the last crumbs had vanished from their plates. A few of the older students began standing.

"Alright, Gryffindors this way. Time for the dorms!" a curly haired fifth year called from near the doors. "First years directly behind me, please- Creevey, you aren't a first year move to the side, lad."

"See?" James said as he and the other Gryffindor first years fought their way through the crowd of students. "People do actually talk like that!"

"That's just two of you! That doesn't count as people."

"Yeah, it does."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yeah."

"I don't believe you." Sirius turned around to address Remus. "Oi, Lupin, if there are two people who use the word 'lads,' does that mean the people use the word 'lads?'"

"Technically," Remus said slowly, "since there are two people using the word 'lads,' then yes, people use the word 'lads' because 'people' is plural."

"Exactly!" James said.

"You're supposed to be on my side!" Sirius said. "Not James'!"

"I'm on the side of logic," Remus said. "Which happens to be his side."

They made it to the fifth year, who looked around at them. "This is all of you? Great, come with me." She led them out of the hall and into the corridor. "So," she said as she walked, "I'm Olivia Sennen, one of Gryffindor's Prefects, but everyone calls me Ollie. Josef Lüge is at the back of you- he's our other Prefect. Our job is pretty much just to help you, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

"Tomorrow morning, you'll be heading back to the Great Hall- that's where we just were- to have breakfast and get your schedules. I would recommend bringing all of your books to breakfast so you don't have to run back up to your dorm with five minutes until class, especially on your first day." Ollie continued to talk, stopping only after they had reached the seventh floor and were standing before the portrait of a lady.

"Password?" the portrait asked.

"Billywigs," Ollie said.

The portrait nodded and swung inward, revealing a room.

"This," Ollie said, "is the Common Room. In order to get in, you'll need to give the password, which is 'billywigs,' in case you didn't catch it. The girls' dorms are up there-" she pointed "-and the boys' are over there. Your things should be in your dorm. If you don't see them, try another room."

The Gryffindors dispersed, going their separate ways.

The first year boys' dormitory was circular with four four poster beds.

Sirius glanced around the room, looking for his trunk.

"You're over here," James said. He was already sitting on the bed closest to the window, parchment and quill in hand. "On my left."

"Brilliant," Sirius said. "Who are you writing to?"

"My parents," James said. "Telling them I made Gryffindor. You going to tell yours?"

"They'll find out eventually," Sirius said. Bellatrix was probably writing to them as he spoke.

There would be hell to pay when they found out. There was no doubt about that. He let his fear dissipate for a moment.

James, the jokester was next to him. Lupin, the smart one was to his other side. Pettigrew, the gullible one was already asleep. He had the right idea.

Drawing his hangings, Sirius laid down.

Hell could be paid later. Right now, he could sleep.


	2. First Day

Sirius woke the next morning to a bright light and something hitting his face.

"Get up! We're going to be late to breakfast!"

"Let him miss it if he's going to keep sleeping. I don't want to be late to class."

"Or breakfast!"

Sirius opened his eyes, and James smacked him with a pillow.

"Oi!" Sirius said. "What was that for?"

"Brilliant, you're up," James said. "Breakfast starts in five minutes- we've got to get schedules, too, and Peter is hungry."

"Starving," Peter corrected.

"Five minutes? Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"I don't know, but hurry up!"

Sirius hopped out of bed and hurried to get ready. Over his trunk, a number of scarlet and gold scarves and ties had been laid. Sirius grabbed a tie, then opened his trunk and began rummaging around for his books. As he pulled out a set of robes, a small package wrapped in green paper fell out of the trunk. That must have been what Walburga had told him about. He set it to the side, he'd open it after class.

It took them fifteen minutes to find their way back to the Great Hall. By then, most of the school was already seated and eating.

As Sirius took a seat at the Gryffindor table, he glanced back towards the Slytherins.

Bellatrix and Narcissa had noticed him coming in, and were both glowering at him.

"Here are your schedules," McGonagall said, walking up to the boys. "Classes will start in twenty minutes. Teachers will be tolerant of any first years late to classes today, as you are all new and don't know your way around the school yet. However, you are to be on time tomorrow, so I suggest you take note of where your classes are." She passed each of them a paper, then continued on to a group of Ravenclaws.

"Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, lunch, History of Magic, and-" James groaned -"Astronomy, Wednesday nights at midnight!"

"You do need it to be night to see stars," Sirius said, "and anyway, curfew will be later."

"There's a curfew?" James said, piling eggs onto his plate.

"Yeah, that prefect mentioned it when she was taking us up last night," Sirius said.

"You've got to be kidding me! A curfew?" James said.

Sirius nodded.

"What are we, five?"

"Well, I'm not, and I don't think Pettigrew and Lupin are, but you're four, so technically, yes. You are under the age of five, and therefore in need of a curfew."

James opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by a loud hoot.

They turned.

A hundred owls or so were flying into the Great Hall, each of them carrying some sort of letter or package.

"Brilliant," James said as an owl dropped a letter in front of him. "Thanks." He let the owl nip at his finger in an affectionate way.

Sirius looked up apprehensively. He was sure his mother would send a letter. Maybe a Howler.

Sure enough, a large, prestigious owl swooped down towards Sirius, dropped a letter, and flew away.

He hesitated. This couldn't be anything good. Not after he had brought dishonor on the family, as Walburga would say. But it wasn't a Howler, he knew that much. And weren't Gryffindors supposed to be brave? Wasn't he a Gryffindor?

With that thought, he opened the letter.

_Sirius, _

_How's Hogwarts? Is it as brillient as you said it was?_

Sirius sighed with relief. He knew who it was from.

_Mum wanted me to right and tell you that you have to go into Slytherin. She said you got Griffindor._

So Regulus had been told to write and persuade him to change houses for Walburga. Of course he had.

Sirius scanned the rest of the letter.

"What are you reading?" James asked curiously, readjusting his glasses as he peered over Sirius' shoulder.

"A letter from my brother," Sirius said.

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah. He's a bit of a pushover, but he's good enough. Usually up for nicking something from the kitchens and a game of gobstones. Terrible at chess and spelling, though."

"Well, luckily for you, I can play chess," James grinned. "After class?"

"Unless you'd like to forfeit now?"

"Not a chance."

"Then yes, I will beat you after class."

"No, you've got it all wrong, _I'll_ beat _you_."

"You're the one who's got it wrong. Just wait."

"Actually, speaking of class, we should figure out where Herbology is," Remus said, tucking something into one of his books.

"I'm not done yet!" Sirius said. "We can't leave! I haven't tried everything!"

"Me neither," Peter said.

Remus sighed. "Well, I'm going to figure out where class is."

"We still have ten minutes," James said, "and the schedule says it's in the greenhouses, so it's probably outside. The outside can't have that many buildings."

"Do you know where the nearest door leading to the grounds is?" Remus asked.

"No," James said, "but there can't be that many doors. Just relax, we won't be late."

Remus shook his head, but didn't leave the table.

They had five minutes until classes were set to start when they left the Great Hall.

Sirius was in the midst of a debate with James about who would win their later match of chess when someone said loudly from behind them, "Sirius. A word."

He whirled around.

Bellatrix and Narcissa were standing behind them. This wouldn't end well.

"I need to get to class," Sirius said. Maybe he could avoid most of the situation.

"First years can be late to their classes today, it is a large castle, after all. What's the harm in having a little chat with your family?" Bellatrix said it innocently enough, but the cold gleam in her eyes gave her away.

"Yeah, but I'm curious about-"

"About what? Herbology?" Narcissa asked cooly. "You've always hated plants. Please, Sirius, don't lie. It'll be easier for everyone if we just talk. Honestly."

"Look, he's right, we have to get to class," James said.

Bellatrix pulled out her wand. "I'd like to talk with my cousin, Potter. This doesn't concern you. Come, Sirius."

"I'll just go, she's right," Sirius said quietly. "See you in class."

"You sure?" James said.

"Yeah. Go ahead, the worst she'll do is hex me."

"Hex you?" James demanded. "She can't do that!"

"Come on, James," Remus said. "Let's let them talk. I'm sure she won't hex him, it's probably an empty threat."

James allowed Remus and Peter to lead him away.

"So," Bellatrix said, once they had left the corridor. "Gryffindor. Care to explain?"

"The Hat didn't think that Slytherin was my best option," Sirius said.

"You're a Black. You could have forced it to put you where you wanted," Bellatrix said.

"Maybe where I wanted to be wasn't in Slytherin," Sirius said quickly. He went quiet as Bellatrix and Narcissa looked at each other in shock.

"You're saying you chose Gryffindor," Narcissa said.

Sirius hesitated. "Well-"

That was all Bellatrix needed to hear.

"Gryffindor? The opposite of Slytherin? That filthy house? In Slytherin, everyone is pure of blood! Worthy! Gryffindor is filled with half-bloods, mudbloods, and _blood traitors._ You are above scum like them!"

"Bella is right," Narcissa said. "You're above dirt like the mudbloods."

"Not everyone in Gryffindor is dirt. At least, I don't think so. James is great, and Lupin and Pettigrew are alright. Evans is a pain, but that's because her friend got sorted into Slytherin with your lot-"

"'Your lot?'" Bellatrix laughed. "We are family. Whether you choose to accept your place in Slytherin or not, we are blood. You are part of our 'lot.'"

"Can I get to class now?" Sirius said.

"Your mother is talking to Dumbledore to give you the option to be resorted. When she succeeds, take it."

"And if I don't?"

"You'll pay."

"You mean that you'll hex me? You'll do that whether I'm Gryffindor or not," Sirius snorted.

"I've learned a few… useful spells… since our last family gathering. I haven't gotten the chance to test them out yet. Perhaps you'll make a good target."

"Lay off him," Narcissa said. "He gets the message, I'm sure. He'll resort. Won't you, Sirius?"

Sirius shook his head. "The Hat put me in Gryffindor."

"You are a Black!" Bellatrix snarled. "It is your duty-"

"Bella," Narcissa said collectedly. "He will resort. Aunt Walburga will make sure of that. He'll come around."

Bellatrix glared at her, but didn't say anything.

"Go to class," Narcissa instructed. "We'll chat again once you've had time to reconsider."

"You were right, we should have left earlier," Sirius said to Remus.

"Did they hex you?" James asked.

"No, Bella threatened to, though."

"Good. Then we would have had to figure out how to hex her back."

"You can't hex other students," Remus said. "It's not allowed."

"It's only not allowed if you get caught," James said wisely. "If you don't get caught, then it never happened."

"I don't think that's how it works-"

"Well, anyway, what did they want to talk to you about?"

"My mum is trying to get me resorted into Slytherin," Sirius said.

"Is resorting even allowed?" James said.

"I don't know, but my mum is good at pulling strings."

"She can't make you-"

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, please pay attention!" Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher, interrupted.

Sprout let the Gryffindors out early so they had extra time to find their next class. That didn't stop Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter from stumbling into Potions twenty minutes late.

"There they are!" the teacher said. He was the same one who had said he would handle Bellatrix the previous night. "I'm Professor Slughorn. You'd have to be…" Slughorn glanced down at the attendance. "Sirius Black- Gryffindor, eh? Too bad you weren't in Slytherin, I would have enjoyed having you in my house- Remus Lupin- I knew your father, Lyall, hope he's doing well... Peter Pettigrew, I'm sure I've had a Pettigrew in my classes before, perhaps an aunt or uncle of yours- and James Potter. I knew Fleamont, taught him everything."

The boys glanced at each other.

"You have a good memory, Professor," James said awkwardly.

"Yes, it's something that I pride myself on. Anyway, there are a few open seats you can take, and then we'll start."

Slughorn let the class out right on the dot and not a moment sooner.

"How are we supposed to get from the dungeons to Transfiguration in ten minutes?" James said. "And without getting lost?"

"Standing here isn't going to make it any easier," Remus said, and began walking.

Sirius, James, and Peter followed.

Transfiguration was shared with the first year Ravenclaws. McGonagall began by lecturing them about the seriousness and dedication needed in the class. No screwing around, no trying unknown spells, no purposely pronouncing incantations wrong, no attempting to transfigure classmates….

"Any questions?" she finished briskly.

"What if we _accidentally_ pronounced something wrong and that transfigured a classmate?" Sirius asked.

"That will not happen because you will not be pointing wands at each other, nor will you have your wands out until you can pronounce the incantation properly," McGonagall said. "Now, to start, you can take out your books, read the first chapter, and then we will discuss it."

Defense Against the Dark Arts was next.

Müller was waiting for the class when they entered. He had silver hair and pale blue eyes.

"Everyone take a seat," he said cheerfully. "And don't be afraid to come up near the front- my last class cowered in the back corner. I won't bite."

"He's got an accent," Peter said, surprised. He was right- Müller's 'W's had a V-ish sound to them.

"Ja, vell, you know ze Germans," said James, donning a thick accent. "Zey 'ave accents!"

"That sounds more like a French accent," said Sirius, then he attempted to do a German accent. "A Gerhman accent sounds like this."

"It doesn't, I had it right."

"No, you sounded French."

"That didn't sound French."

By this point, everyone was seated and Müller was waiting for them to finish.

"-I said 'ja,' the French are all 'oui, oui-' how'd I sound French if I was speaking German?"

"Because you did it with a French accent!"

"No, I didn't."

"'Ja, vell, you know ze Germanz, zey 'ave an accent!'"

"Us Germans do have accents," Müller said. "However, you English have them, too."

"No, we don't have accents!" someone protested. "It doesn't sound like we have accents."

"But you do," Müller said. "Everyone here has an accent. You, me. You don't notice each other's accents because you are all from the same place. You notice my accent because in my homeland, we speak differently, but we do not notice that about each other. _Verstehst du_?"

Half of the class nodded, while the other half either looked confused, or shook their heads.

Müller nodded. "I do not expect you to understand accents. Not when you're so young, at least. What I do expect you to understand is the subjects we'll be covering this year. Not right away, but by the end of the year, you should all have a basis of knowledge about how to defend yourself against the dark arts. This year, we'll be covering a little bit of everything- defensive spells, some of the history around dark magic, magical creatures often associated with the dark arts, things like that. Not necessarily in that order- we'll do magical creatures first as I have a friend with a kappa in his possession for a few weeks, and that's something we'll have to cover eventually. _Jetzt, _let's figure out what constitutes as a so-called 'dark creature.' Does anyone have a definition they would like to suggest?"

The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws left D.A.D.A in a good mood. James and Sirius talked about Müller for a while, wandering aimlessly after Remus and Peter, who were following the crowd of first year Gryffindors to the Charms classroom.

"I can't believe he has a friend who's a vampire," Sirius said. "I mean- they're-"

"Really quiet and keep to themselves, it's a wonder he met one and became friends with him," James continued excitedly. "D'you think he'd introduce us?"

Sirius didn't answer. 'Really quiet and keep to themselves….' That wasn't right, was it? Walburga had made it clear that they went about tearing through people's throats, and feasting on unsuspecting humans, like other half breeds.

Maybe James had gotten his facts wrong- Müller must be a dark creature catcher or something, and have a vampire in captivity. Vampires wouldn't socialize or interact with humans if they weren't trying to get a meal.

He opened his mouth to ask James if he was sure about vampires keeping to themselves when he noticed that they had fallen behind the group of first years, and were alone in the corridor, which he didn't recognize.

"I think we're lost," Sirius said.

"No we're- oh, yeah, we are." James looked around, then pointed. "Let's try that way."

They wandered around for another few minutes until a teacher happened upon them.

"What are you two doing outside of class?" she asked briskly. "Lost, causing trouble, or looking for the Hospital Wing?"

"Er, lost," Sirius said.

The teacher didn't look surprised. "You're the eleventh group I've had to direct around today. Where are you headed?"

"Charms," James said.

The teacher began to walk down the corridor, Sirius and James tailing her.

Charms was taught by Professor Flitwick, who didn't mind them coming in late, saying, "It happens every year." After they were seated, he promptly resumed the lesson.

Once Charms ended the whole of the castle made its way down to the Great Hall for lunch.

This time, James and Sirius made it on time.

"History of Magic next hour," James said. "We'll see whether your dad or my dad was right about whether it was boring or not."

"I'll bet you a package of frogspawn that it's interesting," Sirius said.

"You're on."

Half an hour later, lunch had ended, and the Gryffindors were sitting in History of Magic.

Professor Binns was already droning away by the board, talking about the founding of the Ministry of Magic.

"Hey, James."

James glanced towards Sirius. "What?"

"I'll give you that frogspawn after this torture is over."

"I told you it was going to be boring."

While Binns kept talking, Sirius looked around the room.

Peter was asleep on his desk. One girl- Fortescue, he thought it was- was doodling on a piece of parchment. Evans was listening raptly. What a swot. And Remus- Sirius did a double take- was taking notes. Who would be taking notes? Actually, who would even be able to pay attention? Evans and Remus, it seemed. How they could do that was beyond him.

Binns let the class out late, much to their displeasure. The moment the word "dismissed" left his lips, the class was out the door.

The Gryffindors made their way to Gryffindor Tower, settling in the Common Room or their dormitories.

Sirius began digging through his trunk to find his frogspawn, while James watched from his bed. Remus was writing something down, while Peter was snacking on a chocolate frog he had pulled out of his pocket.

"Here." Sirius passed James his package frogspawn.

"Brilliant." James pocketed it. "Well… we don't have any homework, or anything to do."

"What do you say about exploring the castle?" Sirius suggested.

"My dad told me that there were rumors about secret passages," James said. "I bet we could find one. And we've got plenty of time until dinner."

"Let's go," Sirius said. "Lupin, you want to come with?"

"No thanks," Remus said, glancing up from the book he had opened. "I think I'm going to finish this."

"You read voluntarily?" James said, looking startled.

"That's not possible," Sirius said.

"You sure?" Remus asked dryly. "Do your eyes deceive you?"

"Yes, someone is sitting around and reading voluntarily."

"You must be hallucinating," James said.

Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius and James wandered through the castle for a while, tailed by Peter, who had decided to accompany them.

"Did your dad say anything about where the secret passages were supposed to be?" Sirius asked.

"No- what do you think of Hogwarts? It's brilliant, isn't it?"

"The food is the best," Peter said.

"Yeah, it's brilliant. And the food is great," Sirius said.

The food wasn't the best part of it, though. He didn't have to conform to Walburga's rules. Not to the rules of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Besides Bellatrix and Narcissa's threats, he was free.

They got lost a few times trying to get back to the Great Hall when it was time for dinner. Eventually, though, they made it.

Sirius and James threw themselves down across from Remus, who was eating and reading his book at the same time.

"You're still reading?" James asked, aghast.

"Yes, it's getting really good…." Remus trailed off, nose in the book.

"Oh, come on, Lupin! It's dinner, and James, Pettigrew, and I have to tell you about our adventures!" Sirius said cheerfully.

Remus gave no response.

"Lupin. Hello? Anyone home?" James tried.

Still nothing.

Sirius pulled the book out of his hands.

"Hey!" Remus tried to grab it back. "They've just-"

"'There and Back Again?'" Sirius read off the title. "It can't be that interesting if they just go there and back."

"It is interesting! I'm at the best part, would you give it back?" Remus look a little desperate.

"Only if you promise to listen to the tale of our adventures, which I'll bet are more interesting than people going 'There and Back Again.'"

"Alright, fine, now please give me my book."

Sirius handed it over.

Remus barely said "thanks" before he was immersed in the book yet again.

James sighed. "I don't know what anyone sees in those things."

"Me neither. Pass the chicken?"

After dinner had finished and they were back in the dorm, Sirius and James told Remus the "true" story of how they had traversed the grounds of Hogwarts looking for a secret passage, only to find one guarded by a group of fierce dragons, which after much difficulty, fended the boys off, but they had managed to rescue Professor McGonagall from the dragons' clutches before retreating, therefore earning three hundred points to Gryffindor.

Remus rolled his eyes and told them that their tale wasn't very believable.

Sirius responded with, "Well, it happened, and wasn't it better than 'There and Back Again?'"

Remus said that it wasn't.

James sighed. "You don't recognize the proper art of storytelling, then. We'll have to fix that." He pulled out a piece of parchment, as well as a quill, and settled onto his bed.

Peter was already asleep. How he could think of going to sleep already was beyond Sirius. It was only ten. They had plenty of time before they had class.

He went over by his trunk, spotting the parcel his mother had tucked into his bad before he had left.

He grabbed it, and carefully opened it. He didn't have to unwrap it completely to know what it was. A silver and emerald striped scarf was folded neatly inside. Sirius stared at it, then stuffed it into the bottom of his trunk before any of his roommates could see.

Why had he opened that? What had he expected to find? Some sort of confirmation that he wasn't like the rest of them? That him being where he was was okay?

Walburga, he was sure, had meant it as two things.

1\. A gift to welcome him into Slytherin, and into his rightful place.

2\. A reminder of his place- as one of the Sacred Twenty Eight, and heir of the House of Black.

Even miles away in London, Walburga Black could still make him feel trapped.

Fortunately, he decided, Hogwarts was more free than she made it seem. She didn't have to hold any power over him here.

Thinking that was easy, and making it true would be harder, but he was Gryffindor for a reason. Not just because he had asked the hat. But because he was brave, right?

Sirius closed his trunk. He'd have to figure out a spell to light it on fire. That would be the first step. Burning and destroying what he didn't want. That would get him to where he wanted to be.

Tomorrow, he'd have to talk to Remus. He was quite a swot if he could take notes in Binns' class. Maybe he'd know a spell.

Tonight, though, Sirius had other things to worry about. James Potter owed him a game of chess.


	3. Sugar Quills

The next morning, they were sitting at breakfast. Sirius was enjoying a plate of eggs and enjoying reminding James that he had won at chess the previous night. Six times. James was protesting that he had taken some of Remus' suggestions, and that was why he had lost.

They were deep in debate when the post came. The owls swooped down, dropping letters into the hands and laps of the students.

Sirius had not been expecting anything, and was surprised, to say the least, that he had two letters addressed to him. He looked at them nervously.

Neither were scarlet red, so neither was a Howler. That meant they were probably safe to open.

Hopefully.

_Sirius, _

_Congratulations on making Gryffindor! _

_I just heard about it from Bella. She sent me a Howler, something about my irresponsibleness rubbing off on you. I don't recall doing anything, but Bella is full of delusions, so I imagine that was one of them. _

_Your mother can't be happy about this. I know you're at Hogwarts, and she's in London, but be careful. The Blacks have a lot of connections, and I don't want you getting hurt. It sounds like Aunt Walburga is trying to get you resorted- if you don't resort, don't go home over the school holidays. Give her some time to cool off. It'll be better facing her in the summer that way. _

_Ted and I are settling in well- it's really nice here. We're right by the coast. You can see the ocean from the yard. It's not something you see in the city, so it's taking some getting used too, though I'm not complaining. The view is wonderful. I hope that sometime you'll be able to come over- maybe if you spend part of the summer with Uncle Alphard. For now, here's a picture._

_Good luck in your classes, and try to stay out of trouble._

_\- Drommie_

Sirius grinned. It had been months since he'd heard from Andromeda. Once she had vanished with Ted Tonks, Walburga had forbid him from writing her, and without any letters from her (he suspected they had been intercepted) he hadn't had any idea how she was.

He pulled out the picture. Blue-gray waves rolled over wet sand, foaming as they reached shore. A small cliff a ways down the coastline where the waves seemed larger and more powerful as they crashed against the rocks. Light sapphire sky that stretched out endlessly. Andromeda and Ted couldn't have picked a better spot to live.

Sirius set the picture aside, now looking at the other envelope. Prestigious and made out of fine paper. There was only one person it could have come from.

For a second, he hesitated. It wouldn't be as though there would be anything he'd want to hear in there.

He opened it anyway.

_Dumbledore has agreed to allow you to be resorted. Go to his office tonight at seven o'clock to be placed in Slytherin. If you do not resort into Slytherin, there will be consequences. The password is sugar quills._

Walburga hadn't even taken the time to sign nor address it.

'_Go to his office tonight at seven o'clock to be placed in Slytherin...'_

Sirius had no interest in being in Slytherin. But maybe it would be easier if he just did. The consequences at home were never light. Sneaking food from the kitchen meant that you missed the next meal or two. Bringing shame and dishonor on the family like this…. Sirius didn't want to think about what Walburga would do when he came back to London.

But Andromeda had said that if he stayed at Hogwarts over holidays, he'd be fine. Drommie had never led him wrong before.

Next to him, James was reading a letter of his own- Sirius glimpsed the signature 'Mum and Dad'. Peter was loading his plate with bacon. Remus was reading a letter as well.

"So," James said, "I had an idea the other night. That frogspawn you gave me- what if we put it in one of the classrooms, only we made it bigger, so the frogs would be huge?"

"They'd have to hatch first, though, right?" Sirius said.

"Yeah," James said, "but we can hide them-"

"In the Potions room, I bet Slughorn wouldn't notice a few more ingredients on his shelves-"

"Brilliant!"

"We've just got to figure out how to make them big." He turned to ask Remus, but Remus was gone.

"Where'd he go?" James said, "He was just here a minute ago."

"He said something about needing to see McGonagall," Peter offered.

"McGonagall? What does he need with McGonagall?"

"Something about yesterday, I think."

"We didn't do anything yesterday."

"It's probably just to get away from you and your eating habits," Sirius said solemnly.

"My eating habits are fine!" James insisted.

"Just keep telling yourself that, Jamsie."

"Don't call me Jamsie!"

"Whatever you say, Jamsie dear."

"Sod it, Siri darling."

"Be nice, Jamsie."

James groaned.

They found Remus already in Herbology, talking to Sprout.

"So that's where you went!" James said as he filed in with the rest of the class. "Peter said you had gone to see McGonagall."

"I- I did, I just got here early and started talking with Sprout... about plants," Remus said.

"Well, plants are very interesting, aren't they, Jamsie?" Sirius said, grinning.

James glared at him. "Of course, Siri. But not nearly as interesting as the plan we have."

"Yeah, that's right. We were wondering if you knew how to make something bigger, you know, enlarge it. Also, do you know what spell sets stuff on fire?"

"That wasn't part of the plan," James said. "Did you add something to it?"

"No, this is for something else. So, do you?"

"No. You want to set stuff on fire?" Remus looked slightly worried. Actually, he looked very worried.

"Yeah, it's a long story. Do you know?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, can you find out?"

"Why don't you just check the library?"

"Because that place is only for swots and nerds and smart people like that, and you're smart and were taking notes in History of Magic yesterday, so you must be a smart person or something, and therefore would enjoy the library."

Remus shook his head. "I've got homework I'll have to get done."

"We haven't been assigned anything yet," James said.

"Oh, er, Sprout told me that some of the teachers are planning to assign things."

"That ruins the entire plan! If we have homework, we won't have time to carry the prank out!"

"We'll make time," Sirius assured James.

"We have Astronomy tonight!"

"We have to learn the spell first."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that."

Sprout made to start the class.

"What do you-" Sirius started.

"Class is starting," Remus said.

Sprout went on for awhile about the various types of greenery in the greenhouse, then ended the lesson an hour later after promising some exciting Hufflepuffs that they would have their first practice lesson the following week.

"Who'd be that excited about plants?" asked James, following Sirius out of the greenhouse.

"I don't know- did you see where Lupin went? He needs to answer our question," said Sirius, looking around distractedly.

"Dunno, but he'll be in Potions," said James. "Do you remember the way to the dungeons?"

"Yeah, I think so."

They made it to Potions right on time, taking a seat by Remus.

"So, will you help us?" Sirius asked.

"You don't need me to go to the library for you," Remus said.

"Of course we do, I don't want to go there, but if you were reading for fun, then you'd want to."

"Being in a library isn't bad."

"Of course it is!"

"Have you ever been in a library?"

"Yeah, my aunt has one, it's awful."

"She has a library?"

"Yeah, it's filled with all sorts of rubbish. Her great uncle's diaries, old family trees, anti-muggle stuff, hexes, curses, that kind of stuff."

"The Hogwarts library isn't like that."

"See, you've gone there already, you know your way around it'll be faster for you," James said. "Please?"

Remus shook his head.

James and Sirius both opened their mouths to argue, but Slughorn shushed them, starting the lesson.

In Transfiguration, James and Sirius began coming up with another plan.

"We'll have to figure it out ourselves," James said.

"I'm not going in the library," Sirius said. "Too many books."

"Well, I don't want to go there."

"Someone has to."

James leaned forward and poked the person sitting in front of him. "Oi! Can you do us a favor?"

Peter turned around and nodded quickly.

"Brilliant," James said. "After class, can you-"

"I hope you're paying attention, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said. "You won't be so much as lifting a wand in this class until you know this."

After classes had ended, Sirius and James began another match of chess, James boasting that he could definitely beat Sirius that time.

Peter had been sent to the library to find the spells Sirius and James had wanted.

"Pawn to E6."

"Knight to C5."

"Queen to C5."

"Rook to F8. Check."

"King to E7."

"Rook to F7."

James looked up from the chessboard to glare at Sirius. "Are you just going to follow me around?"

"Yeah. Your turn."

"King to D8."

"Rook to F8."

"King to C7."

"Bishop to A5."

"Queen to A5."

"Pawn to A5."

"What?"

"Your Queen was just defeated by a pawn. It's okay, Jamsie. Life is full of losses-"

Sirius ducked as James threw a pillow at him.

"Yeah, well, the next loss will be yours. Knight to H4."

The next loss was, as a matter of fact, James'.

As Sirius was about to triumphantly shout, "Checkmate!" Peter hurried into the dorm, struggling to carry an impressively large, leather bound book.

"Bloody hell, that's thick," Sirius said in shock.

"It's got to be at least two inches," James said.

"Maybe three."

"Five and a quarter," Peter informed them. "I think. I told one of the fourth years I needed to find a book with a spell that could light stuff on fire, and they found this for me. They said it was probably thick enough for you to find the spell."

"What about the spell for the frogspawn?" James asked.

"It's five inches," Sirius said, "I bet it's in there."

Abandoning their game, they grabbed the book from Peter's hands, tossed it on James' bed, and all huddled around it.

Sirius opened it in the middle and began scanning the pages.

"No… no…. This one looks good, it flings stuff into the air- does anyone have parchment so I can write this down? _Jectautem_. What if we did that with the stuff in Potions?"

James nodded. "Yeah, and that could be the distraction while we hide the frogspawn."

"But wouldn't all the vials crack?" Peter said.

"No, I bet they're spelled to be unbreakable."

"Hey, look at this one. Turns people's hair different colors- we should do that to what's-his-name from the train."

"Snivellus?"

"Yeah, if his hair was pink, the grease might not be as noticeable- wait, here's the one to make stuff big, James. It's _engorgio_, with an 'e' at the beginning."

"Brilliant!"

They made it through a good inch of the book before Peter realized it was time for dinner, and hurried to try and find the Great Hall. Sirius was quick to follow. Dinner was one of the best times of the day, and he didn't want to miss it.

* * *

Dinner ended at six thirty, once the last crumbs had disappeared from the plates.

James and Peter hurried back up to the dorms to continue looking in the book. Sirius, however, told them he was going to go to the Owlery.

"What for?" James had asked.

"Sending a letter back to Reg," Sirius replied.

James nodded, told him he'd meet him back at the dorm, and then headed off with Peter.

While Sirius was planning to head to the Owlery later, first he had to figure out where Dumbledore's office was.

He wandered around for a while, peeking inside various rooms, none of which were the headmaster's office.

With only ten minutes until he was supposed to be there, Sirius had the luck to run into Remus. Literally.

"Oi- oh, sorry, Lupin. Wasn't really looking where I was going-"

"It's fine, I wasn't either," Remus said, standing up. "I'm headed back to the dormitory-"

"Do you know where Dumbledor's office is?" Sirius asked.

"It's down the corridor, then you take a right. His door has a statue in front of it of a gargoyle."

"Thanks. By the way, James is in the dorm with a book of spells and stuff, so he probably won't ask you to go to the library for us."

Remus looked concerned. "James has a book of spells? That sounds like a bad idea."

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe, but at dinner I told him not to try any until I'm back, because if something explodes, I don't want to miss it."

"He'd better not blow up the dorm, I've got chocolate in there."

"That's assuming no one's found it. They've been alone in there for at least half an hour."

"Someone had better check on them," Remus said. "They need a chaperone."

"True. Alright, Lupin, you're now the official chaperone of James Potter. Go do your job."

Sirius followed the directions he had been given, and soon enough found himself standing in front of a stone gargoyle.

"Can I go in?" he asked the gargoyle, to no response. No door revealed itself. "Please? I need to see Dumbledore."

Still nothing.

What was he supposed to do? He pulled out the letter from his pocket, scanning it. Then, having found what he needed to, he crumpled it back up and stuffed it back in his pocket.

"Sugar quills," Sirius said.

It did the trick- the gargoyle leapt to the side as the wall behind it split to reveal a spiral staircase.

Sirius made to climb the stairs. As he stepped onto the first step, the staircase began to move upward, a bit like a muggle escalator.

The staircase stopped when he had come face to face with a wooden door. On the other side was Dumbledore's office, Sirius assumed. He hesitated.

He had come with a plan- not a foolproof one, but a plan, nonetheless- but now it seemed unrealistic. Maybe it would be easier just to do things her way. It certainly would hurt less, and he wouldn't be in as much trouble….

With no idea what he was going to do when he talked to Dumbledore, he opened the door.

The office was filled with odd looking trinkets, all either on shelves, on three legged tables, or in cabinets. The walls were adorned with portraits of previous headmasters, all of whom were sleeping, or at least pretending to sleep. A large desk was placed in the center of the room. Dumbledore was seated at it, waiting for him.

"Mr. Black," the headmaster said. "I wasn't sure whether or not you were coming."

"I got lost," Sirius said.

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "Someone really ought to try and map it. Granted, it wouldn't be an easy task, with the staircases, and I'm sure there are passageways in it that no one remembers exist, not to mention trying to measure it all…. But you're not here to discuss the logistics of creating a map of Hogwarts, are you?"

"No, Professor." He was quiet for a moment, then- "Do you think I should resort?"

Sirius wasn't sure why he was asking Dumbledore that question- he hadn't said a thing to James, who he had known for all of four or five days, yet he had asked the headmaster after having spoken to him for little more than a minute. There was something about Dumbledore, though, that made him seem trustworthy, even after such a short amount of time. Sirius couldn't quite figure out what it was.

Dumbledore didn't respond right away, considering it.

"I'm not sure," he said at last. "That depends on what you think. You would be a credit to either house."

"My mum wants me to be Slytherin," Sirius said, "But if I'm not, she'll… well, I don't know what she'll do, but it won't be good. She hates Gryffindor, she even made my brother write to me to try and get me to switch. She'll be a lot happier if I just resort-"

"What do _you_ want?" Dumbledore said, cutting him off gently. "You've told me what your mother wants, but what about you?"

"Slytherin, of course," said one of the portraits, glaring at Sirius. "Like any other respectable-"

"Thank you, Phineas," interrupted Dumbledore.

Sirius recognized the man inside it. His portrait hung in Grimmauld Place as well.

Phineas continued. "I knew you were trouble, boy, but not this much. Good thing your mother is having you straighten out. Why, if you were my son-"

"I'm not, thankfully," Sirius said. "If I were, I'd likely have your crooked nose."

"You insolent-"

"Enough," Dumbledore said.

The portrait stopped talking.

"Mr. Black, please, do not insult Mr. Negillus. Phineas, do not concern yourself with Mr. Black's affairs."

Phineas began muttering under his breath.

"Phineas-"

"Yes, of course, Dumbledore."

"Good." Dumbledore said lightly, turning back to Sirius. "You were saying, Mr. Black?"

"Gryffindor," Sirius said quickly. "I want to be in Gryffindor."

"Then, perhaps you should stay in Gryffindor."

"But my mum-"

"She cannot do anything to you here, and if she's so against Gryffindor house, as you say and as she has told me in her letters, maybe it's time for her to learn to appreciate it." Dumbledore looked at him carefully. "It's your choice, Mr. Black."

Walburga wanted Sirius in Slytherin. Sirius wanted to be in Gryffindor. There was no compromise to be made, no middle ground. One of them would have to lose, or both of them would.

And since Sirius was the one in control with all the aces, he wouldn't be the one to lose.

"Gryffindor," he said decisively.

Dumbledore didn't seem surprised. "Gryffindor it is. A very brave thing, to go against one's family."

"Well, Professor, it's one of my many talents," Sirius said with a slightly forced grin.

"A talent of all youth," agreed Dumbledore. "Then, Mr. Black, one last matter- would you like me to write your parents, or will you?"

"I'll do it," Sirius said.

Dumbledore nodded. "In that case, I can get to bed a little earlier. Good night, Mr. Black."

* * *

From the office, Sirius went to the Owlery, selected a tawny owl, and sent it off with the letter to Regulus. His brother would have the letter by morning, and he was sure to show it to Walburga.

Pushing these thoughts from his mind, he hurried back to the dorm, to find it intact, and James with the spell to create fire.

"It's _incendio_," James said, "and you do a sort of jabbing thing with your wand, like this. _Incendio._" He jabbed his wand in the direction of his bed, and one of the bedposts blacked a little, as though burned. "That wasn't me, if anyone asks. It was Peter."

"What was me?" Peter said.

"That," James said, pointing to the burn mark.

"That was you," Remus said, "and you shouldn't be waving your wand around like that, that's not even the movement of the spell, which is why it didn't work the right way."

"Well, then what's the right way to burn something?" James asked. "I'm pretty sure I was doing it right."

"You weren't, but you aren't supposed to be lighting things on fire."

"Can you do it, then?"

"No, I'm not lighting anything on fire."

"What about James?" Sirius said. "If he's annoying you, you could light him on fire, and he'd stop."

"Yeah, and run into you for suggesting it, so you'd be on fire, too," James said.

"You wouldn't do that! We've known each other for almost a week, James, and you would do that to me?" Sirius said dramatically. "I'm wounded!"

"I'm more wounded!" James said. "You would have Remus light me on fire!"

"I only suggested it!"

"That's the reason why I'm wounded!"

"Oh, woe-"

"How long do you two plan to keep quarreling like a married couple?" Remus said, cutting Sirius off, "Because I want to finish my homework, and it's a little difficult when you two going back and forth like that."

"Well, Lupin, for that, I think we'll add in an extra few minutes just for you," Sirius said cheerfully. "Where were we?"

"The part where you were going to apologize," James said.

"Right. Oh, woe to you! Woe to me! I never meant to wound you, James! I only meant to help Lupin-"

Remus groaned as James and Sirius continued.


	4. The Howler

Hours later, after the other boys had gone to sleep, Sirius had pulled out the book and was trying to figure out how to use _incendio_.

"_Incendio._" He flicked his wand towards a piece of parchment he had set out to practice with. "_Incendio_."

The edges of the parchment blackened unevenly.

Sirius tried again. The sooner he lit the paper on fire, the sooner he could burn the scarf. "_Incendio._" This time, the fire caught. He blew it out before it could burn the whole paper or set the bed on fire. Then, he opened his hangings slightly, slipped over to his trunk, and carefully removed the packaged scarf.

When he was back in his bed with the hangings drawn, he pulled the scarf from the packaging. A note fell out of the parcel. He hadn't seen it when he first opened it.

_Sirius- this was your great great great great grandfather's from when he went to Hogwarts. I wore it, your grandfather wore it, your great grandfather wore it, and so on. Now it is your turn to wear it. Do so with pride. Bring honor to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black as they once did._

_Your father, Orion Black_

Sirius stared at the note. His father, the cold man always locked in his office, had written him a note that after all he had done, seemed almost… loving? Orion Black… loved him? This had been his tie- it was a gift, and Orion never gave Sirius gifts. He didn't seem to love him as a son. So the one time that he did, was it really fair to burn it?

No, he would burn it, Sirius decided resolutely. Orion didn't love him. He only wanted him as an heir.

Sirius looked at the scarf, now in revulsion rather than shock. Generations of Blacks had worn that tie. Generations of manipulative, cold, unfeeling Blacks.

"_Incendio!" _

There was a spark.

Flames blossomed and the scarf began to burn. The green and silver crumbled to ash. It was beautiful. It was beautiful, watching that thing that he hated disintegrate.

Sirius watched it, mesmerized. His stupor was broken suddenly by James' voice.

"Why does it smell like smoke?"

Sirius gave a start. It seemed he hadn't been the only one awake. And it also seemed- he glanced towards the fire- that the scarf wasn't the only thing on fire.

"Bloody hell!"

The fire was slowly creeping over the bed towards him.

Sirius scrambled out of the bed.

"What's going on?" James asked.

"I lit my bed on fire," Sirius said.

"You what?"

"I lit my bed on fire. I was trying to light something else on fire, but then the blanket started on fire, and-"

"Well, that explains the smoke. Do you know how to put it out?" James was surprisingly casual.

"No." Sirius hadn't thought of that.

"I'll bet Lupin knows, he's smart. Oi, Lupin!" James tore open the hangings around Remus' bed. "Lupin!"

Remus woke with a start. He looked around tensely, then noticed James. Relaxing visibly, he grumbled, "Is sleep too much to ask for?"

"Yeah," James said. "Sirius lit his bed on fire and we needed you to extinguish it."

"Really? Tell Sirius he can extinguish his own-" Remus stopped, then glanced at Sirius' bed. "_He lit his bed on fire?_"

"It was an accident," Sirius said. "Can you fix it?"

"Why would you think I could fix it? We're first years!"

"You're a smart first year."

"The operative words in that sentence are _first year_."

"Operative words? Can you use regular person vocabulary?"

"I'll get Peter, you two get out and find someone who can stop the dormitory from burning."

The Prefect was not thrilled. He (Sirius had forgotten his name), being unable to put the fire out himself, had to rush to wake one of the seventh years.

"It's three in the morning, what do you need, Lüge?" the seventh year boy demanded.

"Those four-" Lüge pointed at the boys- "decided it would be a good idea to set their dormitory on fire."

"A good idea to light their dorm on fire?" The seventh year snorted. "God, they come thick these days. Are you saying you can't extinguish it yourself?"

"It's a sixth year spell," he argued. "Come on, Deetze. Just put it out."

"Fine," Deetze snapped. He marched into the boys' room, wand in hand.

"Is it really a good idea for him to be in there?" Peter asked.

"You can't put a fire out from outside the house," James said. "I think that's some sort of saying."

"Actually, it's 'you can't put a fire out from _inside_ the house,'" Sirius said. "Drommie uses that one a lot. Well, she did before she left."

It was only another minute before Deetze came back down and grumpily announced, "It's out, but you shouldn't go back in there for a bit, the smoke needs to air out." Without another word, he went back up into his dormitory.

"It's just smoke," Sirius said. "I'm going back up."

"The smoke isn't good for your lungs, you could suffocate." Remus had settled onto a couch. "I'm going to bed. Maybe I can still get a few hours of sleep."

"First," the Prefect looked at the boys carefully, "I need you four to avoid using spells you haven't learned in class, especially in your first year. I'll have to talk to McGonagall about this in the morning. Understand?"

"Yes," the boys chorused.

"Good. How about we don't have a next time where you wake me up at three in the morning because of some explosion or something, alright?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," James said cheerfully.

Lüge looked at him carefully, sighed, then went back to his dorm.

"That went well," Sirius decided.

"Well? You set the dorm on fire," Remus said. "I think sharing a room with you is a hazard."

"Of course it is. Would you move over? I bet we can fit two people on the couch, and James and Peter have taken the most comfortable chairs already."

"Your punishment for waking us all up. Sleep on the floor."

"You can't do that to me, Lupin!" Sirius complained.

"Yes, I can. Good night."

"Come on! Please?"

Remus didn't respond.

Sirius gave a huff, then settled into one of the less comfortable chairs in the Common Room. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

When it was at last time for breakfast, the boys headed back up to the dorm to find their robes.

"If this room smells like smoke for the next week, I'm going to use that spell we found to dye your hair purple," James said, giving Sirius a look.

Sirius shrugged. "It's not my fault that you decided to be in Gryffindor and share a dorm with me."

"But it _is_ your fault that the dorm started on fire."

"Well, it's not my fault that the book had the spell in it. Actually, it's not even my fault that we had the book. It was your idea."

"Then it's Peter's fault, since he was the one to get the book from the library."

"No," Peter said. "The fourth year told me to take this one."

"So it was the fourth year's fault," Sirius said sagely. "Maybe if the dorm still smells like smoke in a week, you should dye his hair purple."

"I don't know which fourth year, so you're getting your hair dyed purple whether it was you or not," James said.

Sirius was rummaging through the remains of his part of the dorm. His blankets were nothing more than ash, the bedpost was blackened and frail-looking, and his trunk had been singed, just barely escaping the flames. He grabbed his robes with a sigh of relief; if they had burned, he doubted his parents would allow him new ones- particularly if they bore the Gryffindor crest.

Once the four boys had gotten changed, they hurried from the dorm to the Great Hall.

Breakfast began smoothly, then the owls came.

Sirius was prepared for a Howler- Walburga had said there would be consequences, and he didn't doubt it.

His breath hitched when he saw Walburga's owl swooping towards him, letter bound to leg. As it got closer, he relaxed slightly. Not a Howler. He was safe.

Sirius untied it from the owl's leg, then opened it.

It was in Regulus' tidy scrawl, though less neat than usual. Written in a hurry. It didn't take much reading to figure out why.

_Kreacher told me that Mum is going to send you a Howler. _

"Is that from your brother?" James glanced over at him.

"Yeah." Sirius attempted to sound nonchalant. "He said that my mum sent a Howler."

"Oh. Well, that explains that."

Sirius turned to see Orion's owl carrying a scarlet red envelope towards him.

"You should take that out into the corridor," James suggested.

"It'll echo out there," Remus pointed out grimly, studying the envelope that the owl had dropped. "I don't think it really matters."

"I'll wait until I'm in the dorm to open it," Sirius said desperately. "Or better yet, rip it in half and not open it at all…."

"It'll give you the message whether you open it or not."

"Maybe this one is broken," James said optimistically.

The Howler was beginning to smoke.

Remus shook his head. "Just open it. It'll be over sooner."

Sirius sighed. "If it wasn't for the fact that you're usually right, I would throw my bacon at you."

"Then that would be a waste of bacon," James said.

Full of dread, Sirius picked up the envelope and slit it open.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! HOW DARE YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE PLACED IN GRYFFINDOR? HOW DARE YOU NOT BE RESORTED INTO SLYTHERIN WHEN YOU WERE GIVEN THE CHANCE? YOU HAVE BROUGHT SHAME UPON THE ENTIRE FAMILY! YOU COULD HAVE CONTINUED-"

He could no longer tell what Walburga was shouting, all he knew was that it was loud, and she was angry, and that Merlin, he had been stupid. He could have avoided this if he had just resorted. Why hadn't he done that? Why couldn't he have just behaved? Conformed? It was his fault.

But it was also hers. Why did she have to yell? All it was was a house. Why did it matter that he was Gryffindor? Why did she have to get so angry? Why was she even angry at him?

Whose fault even was it? Hers, for screaming? His, for disobeying? Or that of some other power, causing him to make bad decisions and causing Walburga to overreact?

He didn't know, he couldn't think, couldn't hear anything besides her shrieking.

Then- it stopped. It was silent.

Sirius looked around. He was on the ground, hands over his ears, and everyone was staring at him.

"Well, that's my mum for you." His voice sounded hollow. Empty.

James and Remus were staring at him, odd expressions on their faces. Peter was gaping at him.

"Mr. Black?" Sirius turned to find McGonagall behind him.

"Hey, Professor. How are you?" His voice shook slightly.

"Would you come with me?" McGonagall asked. She, too, had an odd expression on her face that was certainly not McGonagall-like.

Sirius nodded.

McGonagall led him out of the Great Hall and into a small, out of the way room- her office, Sirius guessed. A mahogany desk sat in the center of the room, on top of which were many stacks of paper, as well as a plate of biscuits. There was a large window that let in a fair bit of light. Two chairs, one on each side of the desk.

McGonagall took one of them. "Mr. Black, take a seat."

Sirius took the other chair.

"Have a biscuit," McGonagall instructed, holding out the plate of biscuits.

"No thanks, Professor. I had a large breakfast," Sirius said.

McGonagall sighed. "If you insist." She paused, then said gently, "Your mother was out of line this morning. It's a ridiculous thing for her to hold your house against you."

"She wanted me to be Slytherin," Sirius said. "Then I wasn't. That's really all there is to it, Professor."

"I see." McGonagall pursed her lips. "Would you like to talk about it?"

Sirius stared at her. "What?"

"Would you like to talk about it?" McGonagall repeated. "As your Head of House, it's part of my job to help you in any way I can."

"No, Professor."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Talking won't help anything, and anyway, there's not much to talk about." That was a lie. There was plenty to talk about, but nothing Sirius wanted to discuss- not with McGonagall, at least.

"Very well, then. I won't push." McGonagall stood and opened the door. "You're free to go, then."

Sirius made for the door.

"Mr. Black-"

He stopped.

"Regardless of what your mother says, you are a great credit to your house," McGonagall said.

"Thank you, Professor." With that, he hurried off.

The day, Sirius thought, could not get any worse. He had set his dormitory on fire and been sent a Howler. His ears were still ringing with Walburga's insults as he made his way to Herbology.

_Scum of the earth, shame of my flesh-_

The ringing and the screaming was still so loud.

_Blood traitor, bane of your legacy, insult to your ancestors-_

"Aunt Walburga had some interesting things to say this morning, don't you think?"

Sirius turned.

"The most interesting of them, I think," Bellatrix said, twirling her wand slowly, "was that you refused to resort."

"I-" Sirius found himself at a loss for words. "I can explain!"

"Can you?" Narcissa looked at him coldly. "You were given a choice to be in Slytherin. You didn't take it. What is there to explain?"

"Plenty, dear sister," Bellatrix said. She took a step towards Sirius. "Such as _why_ he would even entertain the idea of staying in such a lowly house, much less do so."

Her words were an invitation for him. Bait. He knew he shouldn't listen. Shouldn't rise to it. But he wasn't about to back down.

"Because maybe I don't want to be in Slytherin! Did you think of that?" He should have stopped right there, but the words were falling out of his mouth. "Maybe I don't want to be like you and Mum and Dad and everyone! Maybe I don't want to be a stupid heir! Maybe I don't _want _to be a _Black_!"

There. He had said it.

Bellatrix and Narcissa seemed to be at a loss for words.

Sirius turned and left them staring after him.

* * *

"You alright, mate?"

James, Remus, and Peter had been waiting for him outside the greenhouses, all looking anxious.

"Fine," Sirius said. His cheerfulness was a bit forced, and they could tell.

"About what your mum said-"

"Which part?"

"Scum of the earth,' 'shame of my flesh.'" James looked at him worriedly. "She doesn't say things like that to you very much, does she?"

Sirius shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

"Sirius, she shouldn't be yelling at you like that," Remus said. "It's not fair of her to talk to you in that way."

"It's my fault," Sirius argued. "She had to discipline me for not resorting. I wish she hadn't, but it's her job." He wasn't sure why he was defending Walburga. He didn't care for her very much. Especially after that- after saying all those things, sending that Howler, screaming about blood and dishonor. But she was still his mother. Surely he owed it to her?

Sirius wasn't sure- nothing was making sense. All he knew was that he hadn't deserved it, (at least, nothing that extreme,) but Walburga was one for the extreme.

"She shouldn't be hating you for being Gryffindor!" James said stubbornly. "Sure, the rest of your family has been Slytherin, but-"

"Did Sprout say what we were doing today?" Remus asked quickly.

James looked at him incredulously. "What does that have to do with-?"

Sirius latched onto the new topic. "I'm not sure. Pettigrew, you remember?"

"Iiyerdua flowers," Peter said. "Sprout said she'd show us some."

"What? Ireda flowers? Is that even english?"

"Iiyerdua. No, I don't think so."

"Why can't everyone just speak one language? That would make things a lot easier."

"Because no one likes making things easy," Remus said. "Come on, everyone else is already inside, class will be starting."

James did not bring the Howler up for the rest of the day, instead following Remus' lead and talking about all manner of things besides breakfast. In Potions, they came up with a list of things they could do to Snape. During Transfiguration, they argued about Quidditch. D.A.D.A and Charms container similar subjects. In History of Magic, however, James found a better distraction.

He slid a small scrap of parchment onto Sirius' desk five minutes into the lesson.

_Do you have any parchment? I'm out._

Sirius picked up his quill and scribbled a note back on the other side of the parchment.

_Are you off your rocker? You want to take notes?_

He passed it back to James.

James shook his head and whispered, "Paper aeroplanes."

"What?"

"Paper aeroplanes."

"What are those?"

"You haven't heard of them?"

"No."

"Okay, well, they're like metal birds- muggles use them to fly and stuff- you can make them out of paper, they're brilliant for throwing at people. If you pass me some parchment, I can show you."

Sirius passed James a piece of parchment and watched as James folded it into an odd shape.

"Here's the best part," James said, grinning. "Watch." He tossed it nose first at Lily, who was watching Binns with rapt attention.

When the plane hit her in the side of the head, she whirled around to glare at James and Sirius.

James shrugged. "Bad aim, sorry, Evans."

Lily opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by Sirius.

"He was aiming for Lupin, he never meant to hit you."

"Lupin is on the other side of the room," Lily said, unimpressed.

"Exactly. His aim is that bad. It's kind of pathetic. Best make him feel any worse about it," Sirius said solemnly, "and anyway, there's an _extremely_ important lecture about goblin wars or something going on."

"It's about the Vampire Revolution of sixteen-"

"Same thing. So, what did the goblins do?"

Lily gave a huff, then turned back to the chalkboard.

"My aim isn't pathetic!" James insisted once Sirius had turned back to him.

"Maybe not. But there are some things you do that are pathetic."

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"No!"

"Aha!" James smirked triumphantly. "You admitted it- I'm not pathetic at all!"

"You tricked me!"

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not."

"Did not! Wait- no, did too!"

"Too late."

"You did it again!"

"Your fault for falling for it. So, who should I aim at next?"

"I don't know. How about that Jones girl. If you can hit her from here, I'll give you a galleon."

Hestia Jones was seated three desks over from Lily, on the far side of the classroom, where she was doodling on the back of her Charms textbook.

"I get three tries. Deal?"

"Deal."

James folded another aeroplane, poised himself to throw it, and….

It missed by a few feet, instead landing on Binns' desk.

He tried again, with the same outcome.

"Last try," Sirius reminded him.

"I know, now let me focus."

James took his last shot.

It arked gracefully over Lily's head, then hit Hestia's desk, missing her by only a few inches.

James swore softly.

"Tough luck, mate," Sirius said. "You owe me, though."

"We never shook on it," James protested.

Sirius grabbed his hand and shook it forcefully. "Now we did."

"That doesn't count!"

"Of course it does. We shook hands, didn't we?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Brilliant. So, you can pay me later. For now, can you show me how to fold one of those aeroplane thingies?"

James sighed. "Fine. But if I teach you I only owe you ten sickles."

"Alright. So how do you do it?"


	5. Operation Cold

The last week of September came quickly. In the days that had passed, there had been a few handfuls of excitement; McGonagall had received the nickname 'Minnie,' Remus had dragged an unwilling Sirius to the library, and James (with the help of Remus and Peter) won his first match of chess against Sirius. Surprising as James' victory was, Sirius was more surprised that Bellatrix and Narcissa hadn't tried to corner him again.

Since the Howler, the only correspondence he had received from Grimmauld Place had been a letter from Regulus. Nothing from his parents.

He was glad. Almost.

Glad that they hadn't sent another Howler to shout at him and shower him in cruel words. Glad that there was no opportunity for James and the others to ask him about home.

At the same time, though… wasn't any contact with his family good? Even if they were punishing him? Didn't that mean Walburga and Orion were doing their job? Keeping him in line? Parenting? Was their silence them neglecting him?

He knew that when Andromeda had been at Hogwarts, before she had dropped out to run off with Ted Tonks, her mother, Druella, had sent her many a letter berating her. Sirius had heard his aunt talking to Walburga about it.

But maybe Walburga _not_ sending him another Howler and instead ignoring him was her way of trying to make it easier for him. Not punishing him as the rest of the family would, but still punishing him so not to raise speculation that she was going soft. Would she do that?

Sirius wasn't entirely sure. It was all a jumble of thoughts that he couldn't get straight, no matter how hard he tried.

Instead of spending more time thinking about it, he spent his time being distracted by his dorm mates.

"I heard from one of the red headed twins," James said Monday night in the dorm, "There are a whole bunch of secret passages in the castle."

Remus glanced up from his book. "Of course there are- the castle is centuries old and was built back when witchcraft was punishable by death. The founders definitely had ways to get out of the castle that muggles wouldn't find."

James shrugged. "I don't know about that, but I think we should try and find them. Tomorrow after classes."

"Yeah," Sirius said. "I bet there's one that leads to Hogsmeade, and maybe one into the Forbidden Forest!"

Peter nodded excitedly.

Remus didn't seem to share their enthusiasm.

"Er, I'm not going to be… around tomorrow," he said.

"Why not?" Peter asked.

"My mum is sick," Remus said quickly, "and I've got permission to go see her, because sometimes it gets really bad, so-"

"Have you taken her to a healer?" Sirius said.

"It's a muggle illness, they can't do anything about it."

"She's got a muggle illness?"

"Er, yeah."

"Well," James said, "I hope she gets better."

"She won't." Remus paused. "It's chronic."

"Oh. When are you getting back?"

"I'm not sure. Whenever she's doing better."

"We'll wait to find the secret passages until then," James offered.

"That's alright, I don't-"

"We're waiting, and that's settled," James said, cutting him off. "So, when we do go looking for them, where do you think they'll be?"

"Probably behind a painting or something," Sirius said, "or maybe you've got to use some sort of password."

"Maybe some of the seventh years know where they are," Peter said.

"Maybe, but asking them would take all the fun out of it," Sirius said wisely.

"And anyway, we don't need their help!" James said decisively. "We're… what are we?"

"First years?" Remus suggested.

"No! Well, yeah, but I was thinking of some sort of team name."

"What about 'the Gryffindor Four?'" Sirius said.

"'The Gryffindor Four?'"

"Yeah. Brilliant, right? It even rhymes."

"No, we need something better." James thought about it for a minute. "I don't have any ideas."

"So it's the Gryffindor Four, then."

"What happens if someone is evicted from the group?" Remus asked, then added, "Or added?"

"No one is going to be taken out of the Gryffindor Four," Sirius said. "And I don't know who we'd add."

"But if we did, it would be the Gryffindor Five," James said.

"Then it doesn't rhyme. Bugger! It won't work!"

"Good."

"That's not good!" Sirius protested. "Pettigrew agrees with me, right?"

Peter looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Well, it wasn't bad-"

"Aha! Told you, mate!"

"-but it wasn't brilliant."

"Come on! You're supposed to be on my side, Pettigrew! Traitor!"

The boys had finished classes the next day when Remus left, wishing James good luck on the game of chess he and Sirius were in the midst of.

Unsurprisingly, Sirius won.

"You've got to be cheating," James said. "You can't win every time!"

"Yes, I can," Sirius said. "Unless it's three on one, because that's not fair."

"I could have beat you without their help!"

"Then why did you just lose?"

James muttered something under his breath then turned to Peter. "Alright, you're playing him this time. Someone's got to beat him."

Sirius grinned.

Thirty minutes later, Peter was in checkmate. It had been a longer game than with James, but Sirius victorious, nonetheless.

"I figured it out!" James exclaimed as they put away the chess pieces. "You've got a time turner and are going forward in time to see what we'll do, then making sure that you don't lose by memorizing what we're going to do!"

"Don't time turners go backwards?" Peter said.

"Oh- well, then you go backwards in time after you've already played, and then play again so you win!"

Sirius snorted. "That's the worst theory you've come up with."

James sighed. "So that's not it?"

"Nope."

"Then how do you keep winning?"

"The Great Sirius Black never reveals his secrets," Sirius said matter-of-factly. "Well, what are we going to do?"

Peter shrugged unhelpfully.

"I know! We should try and plan a prank!" James said.

"Brilliant! Do you still have the book?"

James lay down on the floor by his bed and began rummaging around. "Here! I think it's due tomorrow, though."

"We can renew it," Sirius said. "What kind of prank should we do?"

James opened up the leather bound book and began paging through it. "There are color changing spells, there's one that knocks stuff over… the throwing one… look at this! This one freezes stuff!"

Sirius peered at the page, which had the heading _Gelumaxima- Freezing_.

"How are we supposed to say that?"

"Geloomaxemuh? No, that doesn't sound right. Gelumaxeama?"

"Are you sure that you're literate, mate?"

James shot Sirius a glare. "I'd like to see you do it better."

"Gelomaxeima."

"That's not how you say it."

"Maybe not, but it was righter than yours."

"What would we even do with the spell?" Peter asked.

"Er…"

They hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

"Well, we could…"

"We could freeze Snivellus," James said.

"Or Evans," Sirius said. "Or Minnie, well, no, not Minnie. She might not like that."

"Freeze the lake? That's not really a real prank, though…"

"I've got it!" Sirius said. "What if we dumped water in the corridor by the Great Hall in the middle of the night, and then we froze it? Then when everyone comes down for breakfast-"

"Then they'll be sliding all over the place!" James finished. "Brilliant! But what if the ice melts before everyone comes down?"

"There's got to be a spell to keep it cold in there. Here, turn the page, maybe it's on the back."

It wasn't. Nor was it anywhere else in the book.

"We'll have to ask Lupin if he knows when he gets back," James decided, then groaned. "We have to wait!"

"Don't worry, James. If we can get Remus to join us, then we'll be able to do it within a day," Sirius assured him. "He's a nerd, it'll take him ten minutes to find the spell."

* * *

They went until Friday without seeing Remus.

He was down in the Great Hall at breakfast, looking quite tired, as though he hadn't had much sleep over the past three days.

"You're back!" Sirius said, taking a seat next to him.

"Was your mum really that bad? That you needed to be gone for three days?" Peter asked.

"What Peter means," James said, giving Peter a look, "is how's she doing?"

Remus shifted uncomfortably. "Er, yeah. She wasn't doing well. But she's better now. Thanks."

They sat quietly for a few moments before Remus said, "Did I miss much?"

"In class? No," James said, grabbing a roll. "But we came up with a brilliant idea for a prank, and we need your help."

Before Remus could respond, an owl swooped down, dropping a letter into Peter's eggs.

"It must be from my- wait, no. Hey, Remus, this one's for you," Peter said, glancing at the envelope.

"It is?"

"Yeah, here."

"Thanks." Remus slit the envelope open and pulled out the letter.

"Alright, here's the plan for the prank," Sirius started. "We're going to freeze the corridors-"

Remus wasn't listening. As he scanned the paper, he seemed to pale slightly.

Sirius caught a glimpse of the letter as he stuffed it into his bag.

…_dangerous… can't trust… not make friends… the Black boy…. _

"Lupin, you alright?" James asked.

Remus nodded, then stood quickly. "I, er, I've got to go."

"His mum couldn't have gotten worse since he left, could she?" Peter said, watching him hurry out of the Great Hall.

"I don't know," James said. "We can ask in Herbology. Sirius, would you pass the eggs?"

Sirius passed the eggs silently.

James, Peter, and Sirius made it to Herbology before Remus, just before Sprout started her lecture. He came into class a few minutes late.

The boys beckoned him over towards them, but Remus found a spot next to Lily, who was on the other side of the greenhouse.

The same thing happened Potions and Transfiguration, then again in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"I think he's avoiding us," James noted as they headed to lunch.

"Keen observation," Sirius said dryly.

"How come?"

"I don't know. Something in that letter, maybe?"

The 'maybe' was not necessary. Sirius knew that it had been the letter. Something about him, not making friends, being careful. He hadn't seen the whole letter, but he had a pretty good idea of what it equated to.

Blacks are dangerous and cannot be trusted. Things that are dangerous are treated with caution. Caution means that you should not associate yourself with that thing unless completely necessary.

In simple terms, do not befriend a Black.

But he wasn't like them. He was in Gryffindor, for Merlin's sake. Had he been a git like the rest of them, he'd be in Slytherin. He didn't even _want _to be like them.

"Probably," James agreed. "Wonder who wrote him. And what they wrote."

"Nothing good," Sirius said. Nothing true, at least. Hopefully.

"D'you think that it would be easy enough to nick it?" James said.

"We can't steal his mail!" Peter said, scandalized. "That's private!"

"We share a dormitory," James said. "Nothing is private."

"He's right," Sirius said, nodding to Peter. "We can't read his mail."

"So we just keep trying to talk to him? Even though he's sitting at least twenty feet away from us at all times? I don't think that's working very well."

"Maybe only one of us should try to talk to him."

"Good idea. Pettigrew, you're up."

Remus didn't talk much with Peter. When Peter proved unsuccessful, they sent James. James also proved to be unsuccessful.

During History of Magic, James decided that it was Sirius' turn.

"Maybe he just needs space," Peter said.

"He was fine this morning. Well, not fine, but you know what I mean. Willing to talk with us."

"Yeah, but he told me that he wasn't in the mood to talk," Peter said.

"He was talking with Jones," James said.

"They were partners in Potions," Sirius pointed out. "Of course they had to talk."

"Still, we should-"

"Give him some space. Glad you agree. So, since Remus isn't in on Operation… Cold… who wants to do the research?"

"That's your job," James said, "since you're so insistent that we give Lupin space. And what kind of a name is Operation Cold?"

"I'm being nice, and you're punishing me?" Sirius said. "And Operation Cold is a great name."

"No it's not, and yes. You're going because you're being nice."

"Why do I have to go? Pettigrew could. Right?" He turned to Peter, who shook his head.

And so, after class had ended, Sirius trudged his way to the library.

The library was huge, and almost every inch of it was covered in books, save for some tables for working. It would be impossible to navigate on his own, particularly since Sirius made it a point to avoid libraries. He hadn't the slightest idea how books were shelved.

He wandered over to the nearest shelf and pulled a book off it at random. _Twenty Three Ways to Train Your Crup_. Not what he needed.

Sirius wandered over to another shelf and pulled out a copy of _The Life and Times of the Bristol Banshee_. Definitely not the right section.

It took almost an hour to find the charms section, which was on the far end of the room and consisted of thirty or so ceiling-high shelves. From there, he had to find a book with the spell.

This was going to take a while.

He made it through the first eighth of the first shelf before he gave up.

James and Peter were eating in the Great Hall. They looked up excitedly when he sat down.

"Did you find it?" James asked.

Sirius shook his head.

"Then why are you here?" James said. "We've got to find it."

"It's impossible," Sirius said. "There are too many books! There's got to be at least a million in the charms section! How am I supposed to find one spell?"

James shrugged. "That's your problem."

"You wanted to do the prank!"

"So did you," Peter said.

"It was my genius idea," Sirius said. "That took a lot of work. I think that James should do it, since he hasn't helped."

"It was my idea that we do a prank," James said.

"Good point." Sirius turned to Peter. "Well, then I think that you should go and find the spell."

"But I did it last time!" Peter said.

"And you found it," James said. "That means you can find this spell, and probably take less time than this bloke." He nodded toward Sirius.

And so, after dinner had ended, Peter made his way to the library while Sirius and James went back up to the dorm. Like Sirius, he returned empty handed.

"I couldn't find anything," he said. "And the librarian person wouldn't help. Neither would the seventh years."

"The seventh years didn't help? Isn't that their job?" James said.

"They were Slytherins," Peter clarified.

"That explains it," James said wisely.

"How many shelves are left?" Sirius said.

"Twenty nine and a little more than a half," Peter said.

If it had taken a total of four hours to get through not quite half of a shelf, it would take days to get through all of them. Then it would take time to learn the spells, and that would mean it could take months to carry out the prank.

"We won't be able to do it until February!" James said. "I can't wait that long!"

"Unless we get Lupin to help us, we might have to," Sirius said unhappily.

"I refuse to accept that!" James declared. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. You know what that means, lads."

* * *

James woke them all up bright and early.

If it were for almost any other occasion, Sirius might not have minded.

In this case, it was to go down to the library.

"It's the weekend," Sirius complained. "Why should we be doing work?"

"Because it's for a noble cause," James said. "Where'd you stop, Pettigrew?"

They worked until lunch without any luck. Then, at James' insistence, they went back to keep working.

To get to the charms section, they had to pass a small cluster of tables, at one of which Remus was pouring over a book.

"Oi! Lupin!" James said loudly.

There was an almost vicious "_Shhhhh!_" from the librarian.

"Sorry. Oi, Lupin!" James said, this time more quietly.

Remus glanced up from his book and made to stand up. "Hi. Er, I was actually going to go to-"

"Would you be able to find a book for us?" James interrupted. "We've been trying all day, and-"

"I need to talk with Slughorn about the homework," Remus said.

"No, you don't," Sirius said. "You're just avoiding us."

Remus looked away guiltily.

"How come?" James asked.

"Just… not a people person," Remus said.

"Well, tell you what- if you help us find the book we need, then we'll leave you alone."

"You'll leave me alone if I help you find a book."

"Actually, it's more of a spell, but it'll be in a book. We don't know which one, though."

"Alright."

"Brilliant!" James led him over to the charms section. "We need a spell that will keep ice frozen."

"Are you using a spell to freeze water, or is the water already ice?" Remus began examining the books.

"We're freezing it with a charm," Sirius said. "We already have that, though."

"Does the charm keep it frozen?"

"Er…"

The boys exchanged looks. They hadn't read through the page.

"No?"

Remus didn't seem convinced, but he shrugged. "Then you'll need to look somewhere besides the general charms section. The books with element based spells would be on the other side of the section."

"We've been looking in the wrong spot the whole time? We could have been done by now!"

They headed over to the other side of the charms section.

Remus pulled out a book, flipped to the back, and scanned the page, then put it back.

Sirius watched as he repeated the process four times, before passing James a book.

"It's in there," Remus said. "Page thirty three."

"That took you five minutes!" James said, staring at the book in shock. "How'd you do that?"

"I told you, James. He's a nerd, that's how," Sirius said. He turned to thank Remus- only he had disappeared again.

"He's gone," Peter noticed.

"Well spotted," Sirius said.

"We can thank him in the dorm," James shrugged. "But for now, we have a some spells to practice. And a prank to do."

They headed back up to Gryffindor Tower, and Sirius pushed everything out of his mind that wasn't vital to figuring out how to pronounce the incantations. Right now, that was all he wanted to worry about.


	6. Black Blood

Minerva McGonagall was used to odd requests from her students. Questions like, "What would happen if you mixed two spells together?" or, "Say, Professor, would it be against school rules to transfigure someone into a zombie?" and, most recently, "Is a magic carpet still illegal if you charm it yourself?"

She had answered each of these somewhere along the lines of, "That would be a foolish idea. I certainly hope that you won't do anything that idiotic and lose Gryffindor well earned points."

All of these students had left her with the expectation that when someone who didn't often ask questions in class came to her office, it was because they were adamant on making mischief. So, when Sirius Black entered her office in the beginning of October, she was prepared.

"Hey, Minnie!" he said when she opened her office door. "Can I ask you a question?"

"It's Professor, Mr. Black," she said briskly. "And yes, you may."

"Brilliant." Sirius completely ignored her correction. "How do you pronounce this?" He passed her a piece of paper.

"May I ask what it does?"

"Er, it's to turn something into a giant ice cube."

"And why would you need to know how to do that?" McGonagall glanced at him skeptically.

"Why wouldn't you need to know how to do that?"

She looked the boy over carefully.

There was no possible way that he could want the spell for academic reasons. McGonagall had seen enough troublemakers to know he would be one of them. But something made Sirius Black different. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She had a feeling, though, that it had something to do with him being a Black. Until Sirius, the Blacks she had known were cruel and uptight. They did what they wanted. Sirius was far from cruel and uptight; he tended to come into Transfiguration with his tie undone (which annoyed her to no end) and laughing with his friends (which she would encourage if it wasn't interrupting her lesson). Like the other Blacks, he did what he wanted, but not with the malice that his cousins did. It was more of a carefree, youthful thing.

But, she reflected, it was unlikely that he had much chance to be carefree and youthful at home. Having been in Walburga Black's year, she had a very good idea of what would be tolerated by the witch. Fun was not likely to be part of it.

So, McGonagall reasoned, it was only fair that he get to have his share of it.

"Gelumaxima."

"What?"

She repeated herself more slowly.

"Alright. Thanks, Minnie!" He was out the door a moment later, leaving McGonagall to close the door.

She poked her head out of the office before she did so, watching him scurry down the corridor in the direction of Gryffindor Tower, and giving a small smile.

Then, shutting the door, she hoped that she hadn't made a mistake in encouraging him.

* * *

"It's pronounced gelumaxima," Sirius said. "Minnie told me."

"Brilliant." James pulled out his wand and pointed it at the glass of water on his bedside table. "Gelumaxima!"

Nothing happened.

He tried again with the same amount of success. "Why isn't it working?" James shook his wand vigorously. "Gelumaxima!"

"Here, let me try," Sirius said, raising his wand. "Gelumaxima."

Again, nothing.

"She must have said it wrong," James said.

"Minnie would never," Sirius said resolutely.

"Maybe it's because we're not advanced enough," Peter offered. "We just finished unlocking. This could be a second year spell."

"Alohomora was easy," James said. "We can do this. It should be easy."

"Well, it's not," Sirius said. "We'll have to work on it. I bet we can have it down by tomorrow."

They didn't. Three days passed before either one of them managed to even make the water cold enough to form condensation on the side of the cup.

"This is _impossible_," James groaned on the fourth day.

"It can't be. If it's in a book, it's got to work," Sirius said resolutely. "We've just got to keep trying."

"We've been trying for days," Peter said.

"So then we need to try for a few more days! We can't give up, Operation Cold is going to be brilliant!"

"If we could do the spell, it would be," James grumbled.

Sirius flipped through the book until he found the page and began reading through it. "The reason why we're having so much trouble is because- _are you serious?"_

"No, but I'd think you are," James said jokingly, then glanced over Sirius' shoulder to look at the book. "What is it?"

"The ice will stay frozen until it's melted by magic!" Sirius said. "We could have slept in last weekend!"

"Well, that would have been good to know last weekend," James said.

"And you wouldn't have had to tell Lupin that we'd leave him alo- that's it!" Sirius stood suddenly.

"What's it?"

"Lupin! He's a nerd, I bet he could do the spell in his sleep!"

"We told him that we'd leave him alone," Peter pointed out.

"We never said for how long," Sirius said. With that, he rushed from the dormitory.

The first place that he checked was the library. What place was nerdier than that? Much to his disappointment, Remus was not there. The next place he headed was the Great Hall. No sign of him there either. Nor was he on the grounds by the lake.

Where else could he be?

Sirius had no idea.

He was on his way back to the Common Room when he suddenly found himself sprawled on the ground gasping for breath.

"I did warn you," Bellatrix said lightly. "If you didn't resort, you'd pay."

Dammit. He had almost forgotten about his cousins. It had been weeks since they'd so much as looked at him.

Sirius pushed himself onto his feet and turned to face his cousins.

No- cousin. Narcissa wasn't there.

A tendril of panic began growing in his chest. There was no one to keep Bellatrix from going too far.

He forced it down.

"I think it's time we had a talk," Bellatrix said. "Just you and me. About what you said last time." She fired a curse at him without warning, and he flew backwards through the air, landing with a loud thud.

Sirius yelped.

"You said that you didn't want to be a Black. Or be an heir."

The floor was spinning beneath Sirius' feet as he tried to stand up.

Bellatrix flicked her wand again.

Suddenly, he was suspended, upside down in mid air, facing away from her.

He heard the clicking of her boots as she advanced, slowly. Dangerously.

"Do you know what being a Black means? It means honor! It means respect! Superiority! Dignity! Purity! Strength! Wealth! Power!"

With each word, it felt as though his back was being struck with a whip.

Sirius tried to hold in any noise, any screams or cries. That was weakness.

"It means loyalty! Being resourceful! Commitment!"

A whimper escaped through his lips.

The next lash was harder. And then the next even harder.

Merlin, he wished she would stop. Whatever curse she was using, it hurt like hell. He'd do almost anything for it to stop, stop the pain slicing into his back, and the cold words she was throwing at him. Hogwarts was supposed to be _safe_, he was supposed to be _safe_ here. Walburga wasn't supposed to be able to touch him here, the Blacks weren't supposed to be able to touch him here, he wasn't supposed to be in so much pain right now. When he went back to London, he knew he would be, but here? Merlin, if only it would stop.

He didn't keep track of how long it took before Bellatrix stopped. All he knew was that it was a long time before she swept her wand through the air, dropped him, said cooly, "Let that be a lesson to you, dear cousin," and then walked off.

Sirius laid there, in the empty corridor on the stone cold floor. He couldn't move. Everything hurt. Usually after being disciplined at home, he'd have at least something- a limb or finger- that didn't throb. Now, he had no such luck. Everything was burning.

He gave himself thirty seconds, then began to get to his feet.

Sirius stood, wincing as pain shot through him. His back was the worst. It throbbed each time he took a step and sent pain down his legs and arms.

This would be a fun walk back to the Common Room.

When Sirius had decided to stay in Gryffindor, it had been not only because he wanted to, but because he had held all four aces. He was at school, miles away from London. He had months until he had to face Walburga, which was plenty of time for her to come to terms with his choices. Once he gave up the opportunity to resort, it wouldn't be given again. Parents couldn't force their child to choose a certain house. Those were the four aces that he held, and the key to his victory. With all the aces, there was no possible way that he could lose. But it seemed that there had been a fifth ace in play- Bellatrix. Walburga had hidden it, and then in his moment of weakness, used it against him.

He had been stupid to think she wouldn't find a way to win.

She had only won the battle, though, Sirius told himself. Just the battle. This was war that they were at. One battle didn't count against the grand scheme of things.

Sirius inhaled sharply as pain shot through him again. He was guessing that it wouldn't fade for a few days. Two at the least, starting tomorrow.

Merlin, he hated dark magic.

* * *

It took at least half an hour for Sirius to hobble back to Gryffindor Tower and back into the dorm. Ignoring his body's protests, he lifted his shirt and cranked his neck to look at his back.

It was covered in thin red slashes, as though he had been whipped. It was likely that he had been- that must have been the curse that Bellatrix had used. He wasn't bleeding badly, though. Not as badly as the time when Walburga had found him playing with some muggle children when he was younger. Granted, she hadn't used a curse on him then.

("We can't have them scar," she had said, mid punishment. "Otherwise people will talk." She healed them later the next day with magic, but only after she was sure that he'd had his fair share of agony.)

Were these going to scar? Dark magic often left marks. That was why Bellatrix liked it.

Maybe this curse was different. His mother never would have approved of something that would scar. At least, he didn't think so.

Or maybe he just didn't want to think so.

Sirius twisted back around. It didn't matter whether Walburga wanted them to scar or not. If they did, he'd have fifteen slash marks that would never fade.

"What happened?"

Sirius whirled around quickly. Too quickly. He winced as he turned to face Remus.

"Oh, you know," Sirius said, attempting to sound nonchalant. "Family… stuff."

"Bellatrix?" Remus sounded oddly concerned. "She used- that's dark magic. Really dark magic."

"Gee, never would have noticed that."

"You really should go to Madam Pomfrey, she'll likely have something to help with the pain. She could stop the bleeding too. And you should tell-"

"I'm not telling any of the teachers," Sirius said resolutely. "It'll only give her satisfaction. Anyway, it's a family problem."

He wished it wasn't a family problem. Then it would just be Bellatrix Black picking on a younger Gryffindor- one with no relation to her whatsoever.

"It's something the teachers should know about," Remus said. "And magic that dark- it's probably not completely legal."

Not completely legal.

If he could expose her, she'd be expelled for using illegal magic on students. Arrested, maybe. She would never bother him again. He'd finally be free.

There was a flicker of hope, which was quickly extinguished. The Blacks were too influential for Bellatrix to be expelled. If Dumbledore did it, they'd probably bribe some Ministry official to change a law regarding the curse. She'd still be at Hogwarts, and she'd be out for Sirius' blood.

"No. I can't."

It was impossible to win against her. Screw the war. He couldn't win if he lost all of his battles.

"But-" Remus looked as though he wanted to press the issue. Upon seeing the look on Sirius' face, he settled for saying, "At least go to the Hospital Wing."

Sirius' back was throbbing. The Hospital Wing almost sounded like a good idea. Almost.

"Nice try. If I go to Pomfrey, she'll ask where I got them, and then I'll have no choice but to tell." He tried to grin wryly, but it came out as more of a grimace. "Give me more credit, I'm not falling for that."

Remus sighed. "It was worth a try."

Before Remus could attempt a new tactic, Sirius glanced around quickly, searching for something to say.

"Where are James and Peter?" Neither of them were in the dormitory, now that he was looking.

"I think they went out looking for you," Remus said.

Looking for him.

Sirius abruptly remembered why he had left the dorm in the first place.

"Hey, Lupin, you know the prank James, Peter, and I are planning?"

Remus suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable.

"We're having trouble with the spell," Sirius said. "And you're a genius with magic and whatnot, so could you help us out?"

"Er, sorry, no, I- I don't think so."

Sirius stared at him. "Why not?"

"Well, it's against the rules," Remus said quickly, "and-"

"Is it because of that letter?" Sirius interrupted.

Remus faltered. "What?"

"That letter you got at breakfast a while ago," Sirius said.

Remus went pale. "How- how much of it did you see?"

_Dangerous. Can't trust. Not make friends. The Black boy._

Nine words. Not a lot. Only enough to see that he'd been written off as just another Black because of his blood.

If only he could rid himself of it; drain it from his veins until there was nothing Black left. Until there was nothing but him. Why did he have to be a Black? Why couldn't he just be a Smith or a Bones or _anything_ but a Black? Then his mother wouldn't be out for his blood, Bellatrix wouldn't be using illegal curses on him, people wouldn't whisper about him, Remus wouldn't be avoiding him.

He was so tired of being labeled.

Pureblood. Dangerous. Hier. Disgrace. Untrustworthy. Black.

How much of the letter had he seen?

"Enough," Sirius said coldly. "Enough to know that you and whoever wrote that letter think that I'm dangerous because of my family. That I can't be trusted or associated with because of that."

He snapped. He had meant to leave it there. But it all came flooding out, the tsunami in his head, too fast for him to stop.

"I'm not like them! They're all gits, I know! But I'm not! I'm not like that! I'm not even in Slytherin! They all hate me because of it!" Sirius was pleading now. "I don't want to be like that! Never! I haven't done a thing to you or to anyone, and all they do is stare at me and avoid me! All because I'm a Black! But I'm not like the rest of them! I don't want to be! So then why does everyone have to treat me like I am? You heard the Howler, everyone has! You saw what Bellatrix did because I didn't resort! Why do you keep thinking that I'm like them?"

There was nothing more for Sirius to say. Drained, he stopped.

The dormitory fell silent.

"That… that's what you saw?" Remus asked tentatively.

Sirius nodded, then winced.

"That's all you saw?" Remus relaxed slightly as Sirius nodded again. "That- it wasn't what you thought you read. It wasn't all about you being a Black."

"Then why have you been avoiding me?" There was no other explanation he could think of. Not with having seen the letter.

"I-" Remus hesitated. "I'm not supposed to have friends."

Sirius stared at him. That was the last thing that he had expected to hear. But it made some sense. The avoiding. The ignoring. But not being allowed to have friends?

"Why not?"

The tension returned. "It's a long story."

"We've got plenty of time until James and Peter get back," Sirius said. "They'll probably head straight down to lunch. And Peter could probably eat all the noodles from all four tables."

"I'd- I'd rather not."

Sirius made to shrug, forgetting his back. He hissed as pain ignited across his back.

"You should have Madam Pomfrey look at that," Remus said.

"You're changing the subject," Sirius said.

"But you really should get that healed," Remus said. "It'll still hurt a bit after since it's a curse wound, but it won't be as bad, and it'll stop the bleeding. And keep it from getting infected."

"The bleeding'll stop on its own."

They sat quietly for a moment.

"I've got to head to the library," Remus said, breaking the silence. "There's an essay I need to finish."

"Back to avoiding me?" Sirius said.

"Not just you," Remus said. "And it's not like I have much choice."

Sirius thought for a moment. "If you're not allowed to have friends, then can you have pupils?"

"What?"

"Pupils," Sirius said. "You know, like students. You could tutor people. Then technically, you don't have friends. The Gryffindor Four can be a study group."

"The Gryffindor Four?"

"No one else had any better ideas," Sirius said.

"The Gryffindor Four isn't really a study group name."

"Well, I refuse to be part of a group called the Study Buddies. So it's the Gryffindor Four."

"Personally, I think that the Study Buddies is an excellent name." Remus gave a small smirk. "Absolutely brilliant. I might be able to consider being part of a group with a name like that. Provided that it was only for studying, of course."

"Excellent," Sirius said. "The first thing that we'll need to do, though, is come up with a better name."

"What do we need a better name for?"

James and Peter were back. It seemed that they hadn't decided to go straight to lunch.

"Our study group," Sirius said. "Lupin thinks that it should be the Study Buddies."

James looked at Remus, then to Sirius, and then back at Remus. Then he shrugged. "Better than the Gryffindor Four."

"Hey!"


	7. Moonlit Hours

Sirius made it until just before dinner before he gave up and headed towards the Hospital Wing with the excuse that he wanted to send an owl before eating. James and Peter bought it and said that they'd meet him in the Great Hall. Remus had gone to the library.

Madam Pomfrey was less shocked than Sirius had expected.

"That's some nasty work," she said disapprovingly, then looked closer at the marks. "Not to mention illegal! Which student did this to you?"

"Some Slytherin," Sirius offered. "Not sure which one. A sixth or seventh year, probably." It was taking a lot of control to not say Bellatrix. He wanted to, but that would only get her more angry than she already was.

"Hmph. This'll take a while. And it'll scar." Pomfrey looked at him carefully. "Are you positive you don't know who did it?"

"Er… yeah."

"Well, the headmaster will be hearing about this once I've patched you up, that's for certain." With that, she began her work.

Dinner was almost over by the time Pomfrey had finished. Hurriedly, he made for the Great Hall, making it only minutes before dinner would be over. He scarfed down some dinner, finishing just as the food vanished.

When he got back to the Common Room, he found a handful of first years huddled around the notice board.

Sirius cranked his neck to see above the heads.

_Flying Lessons will begin on Friday of this week. Brooms will be supplied. Be at the Quidditch Pitch by three o'clock. _

"I've never flown before, is it hard?"

"They'd better have good models, I don't want to be riding a Silver Arrow-"

"Wish that they'd let us bring brooms."

"It's been ages since I last flew-"

"Think they'll have a Cleansweep?"

Flying lessons, at last. The last time he'd been on a broom was a year or so ago, at his Uncle Alphard's. They couldn't fly in London; the muggles would see them.

Grinning, Sirius made his way up to the dormitory, where James was practically bouncing off the walls, going on about flying.

"It's going to be brilliant!" he said excitedly. "I haven't flown since summer! I'll bet they have older brooms- maybe around Shooting Stars or so, but they're only around six years old, so they shouldn't be in that bad of condition…"

"They've got Silver Arrows," Peter said. "My cousin told me."

"You have a cousin here? What year?" James demanded.

"He graduated a few years ago," Peter said.

"Well, maybe they've upgraded since then!" James said. "They must've!"

The next morning, James was still talking happily about the upcoming lessons. He and Sirius were in the middle of debating what house they would have flying with when an owl dropped a note onto Sirius' toast.

Sirius opened it.

_Mr. Black, _

_Please see me in my office at seven o'clock tonight. _

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress _

"What does Minnie need to see you for?" James asked, glancing at the note.

Sirius shrugged, though he had a good idea why.

Lessons seemed to fly by. Sprout's lecture on devil's snare felt brief, though it took the whole class. It was the same in Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Charms was the first class in which they did anything practical (levitation charms, which they had started a week or so ago). History of Magic was the only class that seemed to drag, though seemingly less so than usual.

After a dinner and an afternoon that had seemed to slip by like a snake, Sirius made his way to McGonagall's office.

The office was very businesslike, Sirius noticed, in a comfortable way. Light came in from a large window, reflecting off the shiny mahogany desk at which McGonagall sat.

"Have a seat," McGonagall said when Sirius came in. She shuffled some papers around on her desk into a neat pile, then opened a drawer to pull out a plate of biscuits. "And have a biscuit."

He took a seat and a biscuit.

"The Headmaster is in London at the moment, he was needed at the Ministry," McGonagall said, "so Poppy asked me to take care of this rather than him so it would be resolved as soon as possible." She looked at him fixedly. "I trust you know what I'm referring to."

Sirius took a bit out of the cookie. "No idea, Minnie- what flavor are these?"

"Ginger. Mr. Black, you showed up at the Hospital Wing yesterday injured by dark magic," McGonagall said briskly. "I was informed that you told the matron that you didn't know who cursed you."

"I don't," Sirius said quickly, finishing the biscuit.

"I simply wish to know if it was over your sorting," McGonagall said, a bit more gently. "And, since I do not believe that you didn't see your attacker, I would also like to know who cursed you."

"It was over my resorting. Well, I didn't really resort, so that's what she- the Slytherin- seemed angry over." Sirius looked down. "But I don't know who it was."

He could tell that McGonagall didn't believe him.

"Was it your cousin? Bellatrix Black? She has… a history… of going after younger students."

Sirius shook his head hurriedly.

McGonagall sighed. "Mr. Black, what your attacker did was not only against school rules, but against Wizarding law. We cannot let this slide. If it was your cousin, then you must tell us."

It would be so easy to nod. Tell the truth, get Bellatrix in trouble. But all it would do was rile her up more, and then he'd _really_ be in for it. Whatever she had used this time would be like child's play.

So, he forced himself to shake his head again. "Can I go now?"

McGonagall hesitated, then nodded. "Very well. But I hope that if you figure out who attacked you, you will come see me. Or should you just need someone to talk to."

Sirius stared at her.

"It is my job to help my students in any way I can, including if there is something that they need to get off their chest," McGonagall said. "Is there anything that you would like to say or ask?"

There was a lot that he wanted to say.

"No, Professor."

"Head off and enjoy your night, then. Make sure to be in Gryffindor Tower by curfew."

Sirius left the office.

If only their family wasn't rich and influential. Then he might've been able to tell McGonagall about Bellatrix. She likely would have been expelled.

Merlin, why did they have to be purebloods? Why did they have to be rich and powerful? Why couldn't they just be an average class Wizarding family?

Because they were the Blacks, that's why. They were purebloods, with one of the oldest vaults in Gringotts, which was filled with gold beyond measure, which in turn bought them power.

Again, Sirius wished that he could be anyone else but a Black.

He turned a corner and walked straight through a ghost. He was doused in a wave of cold.

The ghost turned around to snap, "Gaze whither thee're walking!" then floated off, muttering something under his breath about "yond's the third time the present day," and "nay moo brain than stone."

* * *

Friday arrived at last, and James was beyond excited. Every word out of his mouth had something to do with quidditch, brooms, or flying of some sort. The moment that History of Magic was over, he was dragging Sirius, Remus, and Peter outside towards the Quidditch Pitch.

When they arrived, a woman was barking instructions, and lining kids up behind the brooms, which had been placed into two parallel lines. She had a hawk-like face and short blonde hair, which was beginning to grey at the roots.

"Line up behind a broom- don't touch them yet! You there, hands off!" she snapped at James.

James had picked up one of the brooms and was examining it. He hurriedly set it down. "They're Silver Arrows," James said, some of his excitement had been quelled.

"I told you," Peter said.

When the first years were all lined up, the woman took a place in the middle of the two rows.

"We will begin your flying instruction today. Classes will be every other school day. If you have questions, I expect you to address me as Madam Hooch. Understood?" When no one said anything, she continued, "Step up to the right side of your broom, stick your hand out, and say 'up!'"

There was a chorus of "up!"s.

Sirius' broom flew to his hand. He glanced around.

James had had no trouble. Remus' broom rose half way up before sinking back to the ground. He was doing better than Peter, though; his broom had not moved at all.

Madam Hooch watched their attempts critically, golden eyes darting from one student to another.

"You need to order your broom, not whimper at it," she said sharply to Peter, then turned to Snape, who's broom was twitching. "You as well. This is the easiest part of flying by far."

By the end of the lesson, all but a handful of students had been able to get their brooms off the ground. Hooch was clearly annoyed by this. Next week, she said, they would have to get through twice as much since they hadn't gotten to everything for that lesson.

There was no homework, which was fine by Sirius. It would have been nice, though, to actually get to fly. Being up in the air, seeing the world from above, was exhilarating. With nothing but you, the sky, and the birds, you felt limitless. As though you could climb higher and higher, while the sun shone upon you, welcoming you to freedom.

That feeling of his shackles slipping off was something he would have welcomed eagerly.

Tuesday, Sirius told himself. Tuesday, and he could be free, if only for a few minutes.

"Well," James said, pulling him back from his thoughts, "now that flying is done for the week, I say that we work on Operation Cold."

"Learning the spell?" Peter said.

"And coming up with a better name than 'Operation Cold,'" James said.

"What do you mean, come up with a better name?" Sirius said. "'Operation Cold' is brilliant."

"It's obvious," James said.

"But brilliant. Lupin can back me up, right?" Sirius turned to Remus hopefully.

"It's not as bad as the Gryffindor Four," Remus said carefully.

"What? That was a great name!"

"Then again, like James said, it's very conspicuous."

"So?"

"So, if we go around talking about an 'Operation Cold,' and then two days later the floor is frozen over, it doesn't take a lot of guessing as to who did it."

"We could call it Operation Freeze-The-Corridor-By-The-Great-Hall, would that be better?" Sirius grumbled. "For all they know, we're just making plans for when it snows."

"It's October," Peter said. "Why would we be making plans for when it snows in October?"

"I don't know, but we could be. Sometimes it snows in October, if it's cold enough. I think." Sirius shrugged. In London, it mostly rained; when it was cold enough to snow, it would warm up enough to rain again shortly after, and then the streets would be full of slush rather than picturesque fluffy white flakes. The regular pour of rain made distinguishing between the months a matter of actually going outside, which Walburga seldom allowed him to do. At Hogwarts, it was much easier to see the weather fluctuate from what Sirius had noticed. So it made sense that if it snowed early, it would stay snow longer than in London.

"It depends on the temperature," Remus nodded.

"Well, whether it snows in October or not, we need a new name," James insisted. "Suggestions?"

"Operation Freezing," Sirius said.

"That's the same thing."

"Operation Not-Very-Warm."

"Er, no."

"Operation Ice."

"Suggestions from everyone but Sirius, then," James said.

"But I'm the best namer out of all of us!" Sirius protested.

James shook his head. "Sorry, mate. That's a delusion."

"Is not!"

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is too! Wait, is not, I mean-"

James, Remus, and Peter began laughing.

"It's not funny, he tricked me!" Sirius complained, watching them.

"It's not my fault you fall for it every time," James said when he had finished laughing.

"I don't fall for it every time!"

"Yeah, you do."

"No, I don't!"

"Yeah, you do."

"No, I don't!"

"He's going to do it again," Remus said.

Peter nodded.

"Yeah, you do."

"No, I don't!"

"Yeah, you do."

"Yeah, I- _James!_" Sirius spluttered indignatly.

James was laughing again.

* * *

The name "Operation Sauna" was selected, much to Sirius' dislike.

"Weren't we supposed to be secretive about it?" he said when they chose it. "It's the exact opposite, so when a bunch of ice appears and we've been talking about saunas, everyone is going to know that we did it. We're trying too hard to be un-obvious. If we really want to be secretive, then we should go with something random, like 'Operation Mongoose.'"

"It's more incogido than 'Operation Cold,'" James said. "And what do mongooses have to do with anything?"

"What's a mongoose?" Peter asked.

"They're animals," Remus said, "and do you mean 'incognito?'"

"That's what I said," said James. "Incogido."

"Incognito," Remus corrected.

"Exactly," James nodded.

With Remus helping, it went much faster. By mid October, they had mastered _Gelumaxima_. Then there was the problem of how to get all the water to the corridor by the Great Hall. None of the boys knew how to summon things or conjure water (they wouldn't be learning about it until fourth and fifth year), so they had to figure out another plan.

"If we can't conjure it, it'll have to be carried," Remus said.

"How should we do that?" James said. "We don't have buckets laying around."

"We don't," Sirius said, thinking. "But isn't there a caretaker?" Dumbledore had mentioned one at the beginning of the year… what was his name? "Filch, he should have buckets, I've seen him cleaning with them."

"Brilliant! So we nick-" James cleared his throat at the look on Remus' face. "-er, borrow, I mean, some of Filch's buckets, and get the job done."

Remus sighed. "You lot are bad influences."

"That's our job," Sirius said cheerfully.

They decided to carry out Operation Sauna on Sunday night. Remus tried to convince them to do it on Saturday night, claiming that that way any detentions wouldn't get in the way of homework. He wasn't fooling anyone- they knew that despite the disapproving looks he gave them when they plotted, he was excited as they were to carry their prank out.

Sirius would have been quite happy to do it that weekend, but when Saturday came, Peter pointed out that they didn't have the buckets for the water. James offered to go and grab them, but was shot down by Remus, who didn't seem to think sneaking out past curfew was a good idea.

"You'll be doing it tomorrow, anyway," James reminded him.

Remus didn't answer for a minute. "If we sneak out tonight and get caught, we can't sneak out to do it later," he said at last. He opened his mouth as though to add something, then seemed to think better of it, and shut his mouth.

"He has a point," Sirius said.

"Then I'll get the buckets sometime tomorrow, right before curfew," James decided. "But it would be easier to do it when everyone wasn't in the corridors."

"Do it during lunch," Peter suggested. "Everyone will be eating. No one will be in the corridors."

"Brilliant!" James said. "That should be foolproof!"

It wasn't. While trying to nick the buckets from one of the various closets around the castle, James was interrupted by an ill tempered cat, which hissed at him a bit before slipping away. Mere moments after the cat had left, Filch came around the corner, cat following behind him, to find James inside the broom cupboard grabbing buckets. Filch hauled him straight to McGonagall, who took points from Gryffindor and gave him a detention for that night.

"She probably would have given me more detention if I hadn't told her I had wanted to clean something up in the dorm," James said.

"When is your detention?" Remus asked.

"Eight o'clock tonight," James said. "I don't know what time it'll be over."

"And you still have to get those buckets," Sirius said.

And so, it was Monday night before the boys were able to sneak out from their dormitory, a bucket in one hand and wand in the other, and make their way through the castle.

The corridors were dark. Their only source of light was the dim rays that came from the waxing moon, which was only enough to let them navigate without running into anything.

It was exhilarating, Sirius found. Breaking the rules, and knowing that the worst you would get if you were caught would be a few hours writing lines. And the odds, it seemed, were in his favor. There was no one around to catch him. No house elves to rat him out. No younger brothers who would ask what he was doing far too loudly. No parents watching him like a lion would prey. Now, in these dark, moonlit hours, it was just him and his friends.

Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus made it to the corridor in front of the Great Hall without any problems. They quickly filled up the buckets, dumped them, muttered a quiet "_Gelumaxima_," and then repeated the process until the corridor was slick with ice.

The boys surveyed their work.

"This is going to be brilliant," James said, grinning. "Everyone's going to be sliding all over the place."

"Well, you're all welcome," Sirius said.

"How come?" James said.

"It was my idea," Sirius said, "which I permitted you to use. You're welcome."

"It was a joint effort," James said.

"But it was still my idea, so I get… half the credit."

"No, we all get some credit!"

Sirius continued, "It was-"

"Can we do this back in the dorm?" Remus interrupted. "I'd rather not get caught."

The next morning, the boys were all up early. They put their robes on hurriedly, and made their way to the Great Hall, almost overflowing with excitement and anticipation.

Sirius grinned when they saw at the corridor from the stairs.

A number of students were sliding across the ice, some more graceful than others. Many were edging across it carefully into the hall, only to be knocked over by someone who had slid across the ice at full speed, or slipped while edging next to them.

Sirius caught sight of the teachers.

The majority of the teachers were trying to herd people off the ice, likely so that they could melt or vanish it. McGonagall was looking particularly disgruntled. The rest of the teachers were either indifferent, focusing on getting students off and away from the ice, or hiding smiles as students tried to skate across it. And then there was Dumbledore, who- Sirius blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things- was skating leisurely across the frozen corridor, a pleasant look upon his face. He turned to the other teachers and said something to them, earning a sigh from McGonagall and laughs from the other teachers.

"Well, lads," James said. "I think that we did well for our first prank."

"It went better than I had thought," Remus said, nodding.

"And what's even better than that," Peter said happily, "we didn't get caught!"

"Black! Potter!"

The boys looked towards the voice, which belonged to McGonagall. She was making her way towards them.

"Why'd you have to say that, Pettigrew?" Sirius grumbled. "We almost got away with it!"

"Sorry," Peter said.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said. "I want you two in my office tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after for detention. Seven o'clock, all the nights."

"But, Minnie," Sirius said, "you haven't even asked us if we've done anything!"

"Which we didn't," James added hastily.

"This pandemonium was caused by a spell, which, if I remember correctly, Mr. Black asked me to pronounce for him," McGonagall said coolly. "And Mr. Potter, you were in with me for detention the other night for 'borrowing' Mr. Filch's buckets, which would have been the easiest way to transport water to freeze, seeing as neither of you are able to conjure anything yet. Are you trying to deny that you did it?"

"Yeah," James said, at the same time Sirius said, "No."

She peered at them sternly over her spectacles, then turned her gaze to Remus and Peter. "Mr. Lupin, Mr. Pettigrew. I trust that you were not involved in this?"

Peter shook his head quickly.

"Mr. Lupin?"

Remus hesitated briefly, then followed suit. "No, Professor. Just them, I think."

McGonagall nodded crisply. "In that case, I am going to go help Albus and the other teachers with the clean up. Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, tonight at seven." She strode off back down the stairs.

"How come we got caught and you two didn't?" James demanded.

"Because you two cause trouble in class," Remus said. "And because McGonagall knew you were taking buckets and that Sirius wanted to use that spell. You two will have to do a cleaner job next time. Have less evidence that points in your direction."

"We did a clean job," Sirius protested.

Remus shook his head. "You still had evidence that worked against you, and-"

"Maybe you should just plan the next plan," James said, cutting him off, "Seeing as you seem to know how to do everything so it works out."

"I'm not really the troublemaking planner sort," Remus said.

Sirius gave him an incredulous look. "Of course you are!" he said. "You're a part of the Gryffindor Four!"

"Weren't we going to change that?" James said.

"Wasn't it the Study Buddies?" Peter asked.

"No, it's Gryffindor Four, and we're not changing that," Sirius said. "As I was saying- you're without a doubt the troublemaking planner sort! You could be a diabolical genius! We've just got to corrupt you!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Well, good luck with that."

"Wait and see," Sirius said, grinning.


End file.
